Oberon Rises
by Blackhawk748
Summary: A young boy with Fey style magic joins a Guild and we see what happens to the canon plot. Prohibitively M for swearing, possible extreme violence, and lots and lots of sugar
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters of Fairy Tail. This is a work of fiction, any and all characters are fictitious and any resemblance to real life persons is purely coincidental. Also this is my first story, so please bear with me. Thanks to TheWorldsTallestLeprechaun for editing.

 **Prologue**

It was a clear Spring day in the kingdom of Fiore as a young man named Hadrian heads into the Oak Town, covered in road dust with all of his life possessions on his back. He is a small and wiry boy, not yet grown into a man, with a head of shaggy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He headed down the main street weaving through the crowd and trying to find the Guild Hall in this confusing tangle of buildings. "Geez, how does anyone find anything in this town, there are buildings everywhere" he mutters to himself as he walked aimlessly.

As he walked he marveled, he definitely wasn't gaping, at all the towers and other tall buildings in town. They were so different from his home village, where the biggest building was the two story Inn. He got a shot of melancholy as he thought about his birth place, then shook his head and kept trudging on.

"Hey kid, you lost?"

Hadrian looked around, and then spotted an older man standing behind an apple cart. "You talking to me?"

The old man smiled, "No I'm talking to the other kid who's wandering around like a lost puppy."

Hadrian frowned, "I am not a lost puppy…"

The old guy chuckled at that "Ok, my apologies. You're a young man who has gotten himself turned around in a new town. Where are you headed?"

"To the Phantom Lord Guild Hall, I figured it'd be easy to spot, but I guess I was wrong."

"Haha, you wouldn't be the first person. Thing is, it is easy to spot, except you came in on the wrong side of town. The Guild Hall is on the other side of the hill, if you follow this road around you should be able to see it in no time."

Hadrian smiled at the man "Thanks, sir." Before he could leave the old man tossed him an apple, "Best of luck to ya, by the way I'm Neal Cranul."

"I'm Hadrian, and thanks again Mr Cranul" With that Hadrian rushes off. Neal goes back to looking over the street. "Hope that kid knows what he's getting himself in to.

 **Chapter 1: A Fairy arrives at Phantom Lord**

After a few minutes of walking Hadrian found the castle that seemed to serve as Phantom Lord's Guild Hall in Oak Town. He hesitated outside, briefly, then hitched his pack up and strode in through the front door. He got a few weird looks as he headed towards the bar and pulled up a stool. A young man with blonde hair in short spikes wearing glasses and a red v-neck and jeans is tending bar.

"Little young to be sitting at a bar, aren't you kid?" asked the bartender.

"Hey I'm not a kid, I'm 12"

The bartender smirked. "Whatever you say. What can I get you?"

"Just some information, who do I talk to about joining up?"

"You're looking to join up? Aren't you to young?"

"Didn't we just go over this?" Hadrian deadpanned.

The bartender shook his head. "Ya, ya, you're 12, I get it. You'd have to talk to Master Jose over there" he points to a tall, lean, mustachioed man in a purple coat and hat who was eating lunch.

"Thanks man" said Hadrian as he headed over to the Guild Master. "Master Jose?" The man turned to him, "Hmmm, oh, hello, and what do you want?" Jose asked, not unkindly. "I was told that I need to speak to you about wanting to join Phantom Lord, sir."

Jose looked at him for a few seconds then started laughing. "You want to join Phantom Lord? Im sorry boy we don't let little kids into the guild." the rest of the guild members started laughing too.

Hadrian clenched his fists. "I'm serious! I'm not some little kid that can't take care of himself in a fight!"

Jose stopped laughing and instead chuckled. "Ok, everyone, calm down. Alright kid, if you really want in, we'll do an exhibition. Jericho," Porla pointed to a fairly large bald man in a sleeveless tunic. "Come over here for a second." The man stood up from his chair and headed over; he was easily twice Hadrian's height. "Jericho, I need you to spar against this boy."

"You want me to fight this shrimp?" Jericho frowned.

"Yes Jericho, the boy wants to prove himself, so let him. Please don't knock him all over the guild."

"I'll try boss" Jericho took up a boxing stance "Earth Magic: Iron Arms!" Jericho's arms are suddenly sheathed in a layer of metal. "Any time you're ready kid."

Hadrian takes up his own stance, reminiscent of a fencer's stance. "Fairy Magic: Summer Court!" His body is shrouded in light and after the glow fades, he is holding a side sword with a sweeping bell guard reminiscent of a flower and he's….changed.

Jose's eyebrows rise, the boy's body had morphed, his eyes where the most obvious change, they where now a vivid green, shot through with red, but that wasn't where the changes ended. His face had become more angular and his ears had come to a point. "Is that….Fairy Takeover magic?" Jose mused. He didn't have long to muse as Hadrian launched himself at Jericho.

Hadrian's opening attack was a thrust aimed at Jericho's chest, which he easily parried. Hadrian hopped back and unleashed a barrage of thrusts at Jericho who continued to parry them with little effort, though he did have to take a step or two back. "Nice try kid, but you're going down!" yelled Jericho as he launched a right hook at Hadrian's head. Hadrian just smirked as he parried the punch and sidestepped to his left. "Fairy Flash!" he yelled as he flicked his left hand at Jericho's face, and a blinding flash of light exploded over his eyes. Hadrian spun his sword catching Jericho's legs and flipped him onto his back.

When Jericho's vision came back, the kid's sword tip was hovering over his face. "Who's going down?" smirked Hadrian as he extended his hand to Jericho. "Well, that's what I get for underestimating you." the big man says as he dusts his pants off "I think the kid's good enough boss."

"I see that Jericho" says Jose as he heads over to Hadrian and extends his hand "Welcome to Phantom Lord."

XX

Hadrian was sitting at a table in the Hall marveling at his new verdant green Guild Mark on his left forearm, and looking over jobs for him to do. He was stuck between fighting a Vulcan in the forest about a day away and going on a fetch mission up Mt Hakobe to go and retrieve giant strawberries. The Berry mission paid 20,000 jewel, but was no risk, but the Vulcan mission paid 40,000 but involved him fighting a Vulcan _. Ah what the hell, I'll go do both._ Hadrian picked up the posters and headed to the bar. "I'm taking these Ritchie"

"Alright newbie, good luck."

As Hadrian runs out the door he runs face first into what he swears is a brick wall and falls flat on his ass. Rubbing his nose he looks up and sees a large muscular man with a mane of spiky black hair and a body covered in metal studs.

"Ow, sorry about that." says Hadrian as he stands up.

"Who the hell are you pip squeak?" growls the studded individual.

"Oh, ya, im Hadrian, I just joined up today." he says as he extends his hand. The big guy just grunts as he pushes past Hadrian. _Huh, well that guy seems like an ass, whatever._ Hadrian just shrugs as he heads off on his first jobs. 

**Chapter 2: Rumble in the Jungle**

Hadrian headed out the east side of town towards Mt Hakobe and the forest, the road changing from cobbles to dirt as the road leaves town. The walk is an easy one down the road and the weather stays good until nightfall, when the wind picks up and Hadrian smells a storm coming on. Thankfully he makes it to the village just as the storm breaks and makes it into the Inn without getting to wet.

Shaking off the water Hadrian looks around the Inn. It's a quaint wooden building, clean, with whitewashed walls and a solid wooden plank floor. There is a hearth on either side of the common room with the bar straight across the room from the door. Hadrian heads to the bar, pulls up a stool and waves the bartender over.

"What do ya need son?"

"A room, dinner and some info. Who do I talk to about this job?" Hadrian slides the wanted poster across the bar.

The bartender looks at the poster, "Well I'm glad someone's finally coming to deal with this. I guess you could talk to me about it since the whole town commissioned the job, let me get you your room key and dinner and we can talk about it."

After a few minutes Hadrian was enjoying a warm stew while the man explained the job. "A couple of days ago one of the kids went missing in the forest. Our town mayor, Sean Borradh, went into the woods after her. Well apparently he saved her from the Vulcan, but the damn monkey got him, and what's worse, it can somehow use his magic"

At that Hadrian nearly spit his stew all over the bartender, he settled for nearly choking on it. "The mayor was a mage, and now the Vulcan can use his magic? Dude, this job is worth way more than forty thousand."

The man rubbed his nose "Ya I know, but it's all we could come up with on such short notice. Besides, it's not like it can use all of his magic, just a little bit."

"…what kind of mage was Borradh?"

"He was a Sound Mage, and so far the only thing the Vulcan has been able to do is use his Sonic Boom spell, and thankfully it has nowhere near Borradh's skill." Seeing Hadrian's expression he was quick to add "I can toss in free room and board while you're on the mission, I know this job should pay more, but, it's all we got."

Hadrian drops his spoon into his, now empty, bowl "Heh, don't sweat it. Phantom Lord has got it covered" he says with a big grin. "Now I'm gonna go hit the hay and I'll go after this thing in the morning."

xx

It was a wonderful morning for a hunt, the storm had passed late last night and the sky was blue with nary a cloud in it. Hadrian had left the Inn early and had spent the last few hours wandering around the woods trying to find the Vulcan. "Geez, you wouldn't think finding a giant monkey in a woods would be this difficult. Well, guess I'm gonna have to bust out some magic" Hadrian stopped walking, closed his eyes and focused for a bit. "Fairy Eyes" when he opened his eyes the world looked very different. He could see the life in every plant as a sort of soft golden glow, it was very distracting. After a few minutes of looking around, he saw what he was looking for, a blue stream of what looked like mist. Hadrian grinned "Found you"

Hadrian followed the trail of magic for several minutes, ducking through bushes and around hedges, but he eventually found the Vulcan in a clearing near a river. It looked like a fairly normal Forest Vulcan, green fur, pink hearts on its arms, that dopy horn thing on its head, except this one had dark grey skin instead of the usual purple. Oh and it was surrounded by that bluish mist. _That is way more Magic Power than a normal Vulcan has. This is not gonna be fun._ Hadrian quickly looked around trying to determine the best way to take this thing out.

"Come on out little human"

Hadrian's heart nearly froze, how the hell had that thing noticed him? "I can hear your breathing little human" the Vulcan turned around and looked in the general direction of Hadrian's hiding place. "I know you're there, so there's no use hiding."

"Fairy Magic: Summer Court!"

Hadrian rushed out of the bush towards the Vulcan, his charging thrust aimed towards the Vulcan's head. The Vulcan reacted with a rapid, open palmed strike towards Hadrian, who had to turn his thrust into a parry side step. The Vulcan started a barrage of punches that left Hadrian with no time to do anything other than dodge and parry, and no ability to realize that the Vulcan was slowly forcing him towards the river. One particularly strong hit knocked Hadrian's sword too far to his right and left him wide open for the Vulcan's other hand to slam into him sending him soaring over the stream.

"Hahahaha! Smash puny human!"

"Fairy Dance!"

Hadrian flipped over mid flight and landed on his feet, skidding a bit before he stopped, in the middle of the river. The Vulcan's eyes nearly bugged out of its head, "How is human standing on water?"

"I'm not you big moron, I'm levitating a couple inches above the water. This is the Fairy Dance!" The last word was punctuated by him shooting forward, ramping off the bank and dropkicking the Vulcan in the face. He kicked off its face, knocking it backward and landing himself about a dozen feet away. The Vulcan clambered back to its feet and charged Hadrian trying to slam its fist into his puny body. Hadrian responded by simply slipping to his left and slashing at the Vulcan's arm. While it connected and did some damage, all it really did is piss the thing off more. It spun and caught Hadrian with a backhand, once more sending him flying, though he had more control this time. He got his feet under him and used the momentum from the hit to keep going backwards, weaving through some trees with the Vulcan in hot pursuit.

Hadrian spun around and finally started facing the direction he was heading just in time to see a tree right in front of him. He reached out and grabbed the trunk, using the tree to swing himself around and launched himself at the Vulcan. This time he slammed both of his feet into the monster's stomach and sent it flying back, smashing through a tree. Hadrian adopted a defensive stance, waiting for it to come to him.

"Me tired of puny human! Sound Magic: Sonic Boom!" The Vulcan roared and shot a shockwave out of his mouth at Hadrian who could only try to block it. While he managed to block some of it, it still sent him flying back into a tree. This would have been fine if the Vulcan wasn't right in front of him before he could fall from the tree. Its punch smashed him through the tree and Hadrian heard something break that wasn't the tree. He bounced a few times before coming to a rest, his sword lost in the attack. Before he could pick himself up the Vulcan was already there and had its hand around his head. "Time to crush puny human's head"

"Fairy Flash!"

The Vulcan roared in pain as the bright light burned his eyes and dropped Hadrian as he went to clutch at his face. Hadrian took this opportunity to run, "Fairy Speed" Hadrian felt everything else slow down as he was suddenly racing through the forest, dodging around trees and over low bushes. After putting some distance between him and the Vulcan he dropped the spell and collapsed to his knees behind a tree. "Shit, my Fairy Shield is busted, and I'm beat to shit" he panted. "Don't really have a choice, Fairy Magic: Spring Court." Hadrian felt his hair lengthen as the transformation took effect, he also knew he was a blonde now; otherwise he looked like his Summer Court form.

He could feel the magic already starting to patch him up, as well as the Magic Power flowing into him from the sun, but it wasn't fast enough. He placed his hand on the ground "Fairy Circle". A ring of toadstools popped up around him and the tree and he immediately felt his Fairy Shield starting to reform as well as his Magic Power recharging. He just hoped he had enough time before the Vulcan found him.

"Stupid human, why can't he just stay still?" muttered the Vulcan as he followed Hadrian's trail through the forest "If he stay still, smashing be nice and quick, but no. Human have to run all over and stab me and kick me. Why humans no just die?" While this deeply philosophical discussion could have continued until the probable heat death of the universe, the Vulcan heard the sound of the little human breathing, and then it stopped. Looking at where the sound had been coming from he sees a ring of mushrooms partially surrounding a tree. "Found you! Sound Magic: Sonic Boom!" The shockwave rips the tree apart, but there's no human.

"Fairy Magic…." The Vulcan turns and looks slightly up. The human is in midair and a magic seal that looks like a flower is in front of his left hand. The Vulcan sucks in some air, he's finally gonna kill this annoying pest. "…Sunflower!" The human rams his sword into the center of the seal and there's a blinding flash of light and the Vulcan is suddenly surrounded by searing heat and blinding light. It only lasts for an instant, but it's enough. He collapses to the ground, and dissipates, leaving an old, bearded and bald man on the ground.

Hadrian finished his leap and almost collapsed upon landing. _That spell takes way too much out of me, I gotta work on that._ After taking a few steadying breathes he walks over to the man who is just starting to stir. "Are you ok?" The old man groans and grunts a bit as he tries to sit up. "Well, im ok as someone who's been Taken Over by a Vulcan can be. Thanks boy." He tries to stand up, but sits back down as he almost collapses. "Here, let me help. Fairy Magic: Spring Court, Fairy Circle" The two are surrounded by a ring of toadstools; the old man immediately starts to feel better.

"Thank you again young man, but shouldn't you be conserving you Magical Power after a fight like that?"

"Nah, I'll be fine on the magical front in a little bit, all I gotta do is sit in the circle and stay in the sun. I mean it's really the only thing this form is good for. On top of that, making the Fairy Circle doesn't exactly take a lot of magic, I just need to get it started, and after that it uses ambient magic"

"Ah, I see a most useful spell. Well as you might have guessed, I'm Sean Borradh, retired mage and Mayor, who might you be?"

"Hadrian of Phantom Lord, nice to meet you." Hadrian extends his hand, which is taken warmly by the old man. The old guy had a friendly face and what Hadrian's mother would call "happy eyes". Hadrian shook that memory away; he wasn't gonna think of his mother.

"Well I feel much better now; shall we head back to the village?"

The two of them were greeted at the village as if they were beloved kings, everyone clasping hands and, at least trying in Hadrian's case, hugging. The village had a big feast and dance that night where Hadrian said more "You're Welcomes" than he thought he ever would in his life. It felt good, he liked that he had been able to help these people, and getting paid didn't hurt either. He crashed at the Inn again that night, wonderfully rent free again, and set out for Mt Hakobe in the morning. He had another twenty thousand jewel to make. 

**Chapter 3: Of Mountains and Berries**

Flushed with his success in the forest Hadrian headed off to Mt Hakobe, which he figured he'd reach before midday. The Berry patches weren't hard to find, so he should have plenty of time to make it back to the village, where he would enjoy another rent free night in the Inn before heading back to the Guild. Yup, things where definitely looking up for him. "I can even get my own place after this! Hahaha, it's gonna be awesome!" Hadrian was nearly dancing with joy. "Time to go get my money!" he yells as he sprints off towards Mt Hakobe.

"Oh my god this is a much longer walk than I thought it was" Hadrian groaned as he shuffled his way up the mountain path. "That's it, break time" and with that Hadrian plops down onto his back and looks farther up Mt Hakobe. "All that snow and ice is real pretty, still glad I don't have to go that high to get the berries, I don't have a coat." he chuckles "Man that would totally suck to get stuck up there in nothing more than a short sleeved shirt and pants." He munched on some bread he had pulled out of his pack, "Still, it is pretty up here." After several more minutes of enjoying the scenery Hadrian packed up his snack and headed further up the mountain to the berry patch.

After another hour of complaint filled walking he makes it to the patch. "God I'm an hour behind where I figured I'd be. Guess I'll just grab a couple of these and head back down…." his eyes nearly bug out of his skull. "Holy shit these things are huge!" He picks one up, it's got to be near 10 pounds and is bigger than his head, "Please, please tell me I only need one." Hadrian pulls out the job poster and his jaw hits the ground and he slumps over. "….the guy wants _6 of them_?"

He shakes his head and stands back up, "It's ok, just think, how are you going to carry these things?" his eyes light up "I got it!" Several minutes later Hadrian has half a dozen giant strawberries all tucked safely inside his bedroll, which he has turned into an impromptu sack. "All right, now I just gotta walk back." The reality of that statement hits him like a runaway truck. "Oh man, that's gonna be a long walk." He sighs "May as well start now" As Hadrian hoists the bundle of berries over his shoulder he fails to notice something watching him hungrily.

xx

Thankfully walking down the mountain was significantly easier than going up it. Hadrian was just thinking that he'd be able to make up the time he lost when he heard a rock shift behind him. Without thinking Hadrian ducks behind a rock and mutters, "Fairy Magic: Winter Court", immediately his skin took on the color of the rocks behind him as his hair turns white, or it would if it wasn't mimicking the rock like his skin. "Shadow's Embrace" the ambient shadows around him curled up around his body further obscuring him. It was a good thing too as several seconds after he finished a large furred quadruped walked past him.

It was easily taller than him at the shoulder and covered in short grey white fur. It had a long narrow snout filled with needle sharp teeth and it had four large claws that looked like there were just as good for digging as they were for ripping apart prey. _Shit, just my luck running into a Molebear_ Hadrian quickly summoned his Winter Dagger, which resembled a stiletto the color of black ice. _This thing isn't half as good as my Summer Blade, but I'll take what I can get._ The Molebear stopped, swung its head towards him and started sniffing the air, and slowly walked towards him.

 _Shit, shit, shit. Stupid Molebears and their stupid amazing noses. Ah screw it, Winter Court ain't doing shit, I gotta try to run._ Hadrian bolted from his hiding place activating his Fairy Dance spell and shot past the Molebear down the mountain. The Molebear took off after him but Hadrian was faster, actually he was faster than he usually was. _Oh shit I'm on a hill and I have no brakes. Fuck I didn't think this through!_ Making the entire situation worse is the fact that he can see a gorge up ahead and there was no way he was going to stop in time.

He took his dagger and rammed it into the ground to his left, causing himself to suddenly change direction and begin moving parallel to the gorge. Thankfully Molebears aren't known for their agility and it shot off the side of the gorge before it could stop. Hadrian keeps cruising forward occasionally weaving around rocks feeling pretty good about himself, until he hears the sound of crunching rocks.

He turned and saw the biggest Molebear in history. Ok that was probably an overstatement but the thing was easily 7 feet tall at the shoulder and looked mad as hell. So Hadrian did the only thing any sane person would do. He ran, and boy did he run fast. He weaved around boulders, jumped cracks and slipped under overhangs. Doing everything he could to get this thing off his back. Sadly none of it was working, this thing wanted his blood and no stupid rocks were going to stop it.

Hadrian Fairy Danced up the side of a large flat-topped rock and switched forms. "Fairy Magic: Autumn Court" His dagger disappeared and his hair became dry and straw like as well as turning a burnt orange color. Hadrian held both of his hands in front of him a magic circle forming just in front of them, "Fairy Fog!" A thick white fog rolled out of the circle, rolling over the Molebear. The creature started backing up, shaking its head rapidly, then turned and ran out of the fog.

"Well, that worked better than expected" said Hadrian. Autumn form was his least favorite as he wasn't entirely sure what the fog actually _did._ It was good at repelling animals, but only actual animals, as it didn't seem to have any effect on humans or most magical creatures. So the fact that it made the Molebear run off was a pleasant surprise, he was hoping for a simple distraction. "When I get back I need to figure out exactly what this does." This line of thought was interrupted by the rock he was standing on shaking as the Molebear attempted to climb it from another angle.

"Well that didn't last long, let's try this. Will o' Wisp!" Hadrian extended his palm at the Molebear and shot a skull made out of green fire at the beast's head. The skull hit the creature and exploded causing it to flinch. Before it could recover Hadrian fired another and another at it, hitting the creature with a barrage of fire. The fire didn't seem to be doing much damage but the Molebear sure as hell didn't like it. After a few seconds of trying to get out of the way the creature turned about and ran off, leaving Hadrian on his rock. "Ok, I'm getting the hell out of here before it comes back." said Hadrian as he slid down the rock to gain some momentum and shot off towards the path he came up.

Several hours later Hadrian finally made it to the edge of the village, tired, dirty and very hungry. Thankfully the Inn was still open and he had no trouble getting a bath and some dinner after which he went upstairs and passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

**Chapter 4: Enter the Dragon**

Hadrian made it back to Oak Town just as evening was setting in. He really needed to find a better way of getting around besides just walking, this was getting ridiculous. Thankfully he had already dropped off the strawberries and was headed back to the Guild to get his money, and dinner.

"Hey look, the newbie didn't die"

"Gee, thanks Ritchie. Your confidence in me is overwhelming" said Hadrian as he rolled his eyes.

Ritchie just chuckled "Relax man, oh here's your money" He tossed a stack of money in front of Hadrian "besides the Guild tax of course."

Hadrian pocketed the money "Of course. Hey Ritchie, you know where a guy can get a place to stay?"

Ritchie thought about it as he poured a few customers their drinks. "Well, there are probably a few lofts available for rent in the Market District, so I'd try there. Though since it's so late, you can crash behind the bar tonight."

Hadrian looked up from counting his money, "Really Ritchie? Thanks man, you're awesome" Ritchie grinned at that. "You know, if you want to keep being awesome you could get me some dinner."

Ritchie sighed "How come I knew you where gonna do that?"

A few minutes later Hadrian was enjoying a sandwich and a drink at a table by the wall when a shadow passed over him. "Hey, newbie" Hadrian felt an iron grip on his neck, "you're in my seat!" With that whoever had him threw him across the hall. As he flew, Hadrian remembered another man who used to grab him like that, never again. He twisted in mid-air and activated Fairy Dance before he hit, sliding across the hall. Looking up he got his first view of the man who had thrown him, it was the large man he had ran in to the other day, the one with all the piercings.

"Don't, _ever,_ touch me!"Hadrian, now in Summer Court, launched himself at the man in a flying thrust, which was blocked when the man's arm turned into an iron pillar.

"Well, look at that, the little pixie has some bite." Hadrian used the momentum of his attack to flip over the man's arm and slam his boot into the guys face.

"Shut your mouth rivet face!" The man staggered back as Hadrian used his face as a spring board for a back flip.

"Well ain't you a little brat, Iron Dragon Club!" The man's arm extended as he swept it at Hadrian catching him in his right shoulder and launching him across the hall and out the back door. "All right kid" the guy said as he walked through the shattered door into the dark backyard, "If you apologize now I'll stop beating on you…" the yard was empty "Where the hell are you hiding brat?"

"Rime Prison!" Hadrian dove at the man with his Winter Dagger extended in a flying thrust, the man casually blocking again, except this time his arm became encased in a thin layer of ice. "What the hell is with you kid?" said the man as he smashed his arm against the ground shattering the ice "I gotta say you got guts fighting me like this, but I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into kid."

" And I don't care! Rime Prison!" Hadrian attacked with a flurry of quick stabs, which the other man just dodged.

"Well I'm sick of dealing with you, Iron Dragon Sword" His arm turned into a giant toothed blade which began spinning like a saw.

"Ah shit" Hadrian jumped back and slid further away with his Fairy Dance to gain some distance while shifting into his Autumn Court form and raising both arms. "Fairy Fog!" two magic circles appeared above his palms and poured fog out of them, enveloping the man.

"Oooh fog, im so…" a very strange sensation overcame the man. He was uneasy, but that didn't make any sense. He was kicking this kid's ass, he was barely even trying, so why was he uneasy? "Will O' Wisp!" this train of thought was interrupted by a blue flaming skull hitting him square in the face. The fire was cold, and that was strange enough, but he swore the fire made the unease even worse. Suddenly he was getting pelted by the things from all directions and every one of them made the feeling worse, if he was anybody else he would have said he was on the verge of panic, but that was ridiculous. After all, he was Black Steel Gajeel, Iron Dragon Slayer of Phantom Lord, and he was _not_ afraid of some little punk!

"Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" Gajeel sprayed the entire backyard with iron spear heads until he heard a nice oomph, then he raised his left fist "Iron Dragon Club" and extended it towards the sound and felt it connect. Hadrian caught the club in the gut, his Fairy Shield already gone from the Demon Logs and got launched across the yard where he landed heavily. The next thing he felt was the guy's fist wrapping around his collar. "Ok brat, you tell me what exactly you did to me just now!"

"Wha- What the hell are you talking about?" Hadrian murmured.

"That fog you little shit, what did it do to me?" the man yelled, he was _really_ pissed.

"I-I don't know, it's just fog. All I know is, is that it chases away animals and the occasional magical creature, it's only good for a smokescreen against people." Why was this guy so pissed about the Fairy Fog, what the hell did it do to him? This train of thought was interrupted by the guy dropping him.

"Geez, you're pathetic. You don't even know what your own spells do?" the man says shaking his head. "Well I guess you're lucky that I'm here to let you in on it. Firstly pixie, you just picked a fight with Black Steel Gajeel" Hadrian's eyes widened, well that was bad. "And secondly that fog, and that weird fire of yours, are some sort of fear magic. Now that may have been an issue if you where attacking someone else, but it didn't do much to me."

Hadrian couldn't resist "If that's true then why are you breathing so heavily?" Gajeel's expression turned to a glare, maybe the shit eating grin was a bit much, which is why Gajeel suddenly laughing was such a shock. "Haha, kid, I gotta hand it to you, you got guts. Though you definitely have more guts than brains, so I guess I gotta beat some sense into you." Gajeel said, cracking his knuckles.

Hadrian braced himself for another hit, "But I think you've had all the sense you can take today, so go sack out and we're gonna resume tomorrow." Gajeel looked over his shoulder, "And you better show up." Hadrian gulped, this was either one of the best things to ever happen to him, or it was gonna be a train wreck, possibly both.

xx

The next day Ritchie flinched as he heard a string of curses come out of the backyard. That meant that Gajeel had gotten Hadrian again. "Man, Gajeel is really giving it to that poor kid" said Jericho as he drank his beer. "What's his interest in that kid anyway?"

Ritchie shrugged "Hell if I know man. My guess would be that the kid reminds Gajeel of himself or something."

Jericho looked incredulous. "You gotta be kidding me."

Ritchie just shrugged again. "I don't know man. Just listen to those two out there." Jericho cocked his head to listen.

"You call that an attack pixie? I've been hit harder by a cat!"

"Well maybe I would do better if you let me actual use my Summer Court ya freakin scrap muncher!"

After this short exchange the sounds of violent mayhem resumed. "Now you can't listen to those two trash talk each other and not tell me that they kinda sound alike." This was punctuated by Gajeel swearing and a short lived laugh from Hadrian before he started cursing himself. Ritchie held his hand up in a "see what I mean?" gesture.

"Ok, ok. You may _have_ a point, doesn't stop it from being weird though."

"Never said it would. Oh hey Boze, how's it going?" Ritchie said to a dark skinned bald man in a red v-neck under a pale green jacket. The man took off his purple glasses and cleaned the one good lens that was left.

"I'm not bad, though I did run into Juvia on the road, she should be here in under an hour, so if you have any outdoor stuff to do I recommend getting it done." Jericho jumped off his chair and rushed out the door

"Shit I better get my shopping done then, later guys!" Less than a half hour later, it started to rain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 5: The Rain Woman**

As Hadrian picked himself up off the ground after Gajeel's last attack a raindrop struck him in the head. Gajeel looked up and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, looks like the weather is taking a turn, probably means Juvia's back. I'm gonna call this lesson done for today." He headed for the Guild Hall. "I'm gonna be on a job for the next couple of days, don't get yourself killed while I'm gone." and with that he disappeared inside.

Hadrian finished dusting himself off before heading in himself, thankfully getting in before the rain really picked up. Once inside he went straight to the bar.

"Ritchie, I need food." he whined as he laid his head on the bar. Ritchie slid him an already prepared omelet that he began to eat with gusto.

"Gajeel tough on you?" Ritchie said with a smirk.

"Oh my god he is such a jerk! He says he's gonna "teach me" but then he goes and has me fight him without using my Summer or Autumn Courts. I mean how the hell does that scrap-for-brains think I'm supposed to fight him armed with only a knife?" Hadrian said while gesturing with his fork.

"You do know I'm right behind you." growled Gajeel as he appeared behind Hadrian, a job in his hand.

Hadrian finished his bite of omelet, turned and looked Gajeel in the eye. "And that would change my opinion of you how?"

Gajeel continued to glare at him "I guess I'm just gonna have to beat you harder when I get back."

Hadrian smirked, or tried to with a mouth full of egg "You'll try."

Gajeel just turned and walked out, and unseen smirk on his face as he pulled up the hood of his poncho. That kid certainly had guts; hopefully he could pound some sense into his skull. As Gajeel left he passed a woman in a blue dress with a blue, white fur trimmed, shawl clasped together with a teru teru bozu, a matching blue Cossack Hat and a pink parasol. Gajeel nodded to her as he walked out into the rain, she barely acknowledged his presence. The woman walked in and sat down in one of the plush armchairs by a hearth, setting her, now folded up, parasol next to the chair.

Hadrian pointed at her with a fork. "So who's that?"

"That would be Juvia" said Ritchie as he cleans a glass "She's a member of the Element Four, which is a group of our strongest wizards. She also has this weird thing where it's always raining around her."

"Wait, it's raining right now because of her?" Hadrian asks incredulously. Ritchie simply nods. "Sweet."

Ritchie gives Hadrian a look "You think that's sweet?"

"Hell ya man! If she can do that she must be really powerful" Hadrian gushes.

"Well, I guess, if you look at it like that. "Ritchie leaned on the bar "Except that she can't control it, it's just always, on, I guess." He shrugged.

"Well, what does she usually drink?"

Ritchie raised an eyebrow "Uh, why?"

Hadrian looked at Ritchie like he was stupid "Because I'm gonna buy her a drink so I can get to know her?"

"Ok, I know you are too young to be doing that." Ritchie deadpanned

"I don't mean like that, ya freakin idiot. I just want to get to know her, because, hopefully, this will go better than me meeting Gajeel."

"Ah, well she drinks water typically, so it's free. Though I guess you could bring it over to her if you want, though she typically keeps to herself." He says as he places a glass of water on the bar. "But you're just gonna do whatever you want, aren't you?"

"I'm glad that you know me so well Ritchie." he said as he took the glass and headed over to Juvia. "Hello Miss, I'm Hadrian and I thought you'd like a drink."

Juvia looked up at him with a blank expression on her pale face "I've never seen you before, drip drip drop." she deadpans as she takes the drink.

"That'd be because I just joined up a few days ago. So I understand that you're the one making it rain." Juvia's face fell a little, but Hadrian just ploughed on obliviously "That's really cool"

Juvia looked up with a raised eyebrow "You think that's cool?"

"Well ya, I mean how many people can say that they make it rain just by being somewhere, farmers must love you."

The thoughts that went through Juvia's head where not of love, but of sad people who despised her presence, thoughts of a never ending gloom. "Not as much as you would think, drip drip drop." she said sadly.

"Well I guess you would have to keep moving, which would suck, otherwise you'd drown the fields, but I guess that's not so bad for a Guild Wizard." Hadrian said with a smile.

Juvia just kept looking at this boy, he was so strange. It was true that the others in Phantom Lord had accepted her and where always civil towards her, they weren't exactly known as the friendliest bunch of people. Maybe it was the fact that this strange little boy was new, but he was being downright friendly towards her and she wasn't sure how to react. He seemed to sense this and began to turn away.

"Anyway, I figured I should introduce myself and, oh shit!" He cut himself off and face palmed "I need to go look for a place to rent! I'll see you later Miss Juvia" he said as he ran past the bar. Ritchie tossed him a ratty a travel worn cloak as he zipped past and out the door. Juvia got up from her usually spot and walked over to the bar and sat down at a stool.

"What can I do for you Juvia?"

"You can start telling me about that strange little boy I just talked to."

 **Chapter 6: Where He Rests His Head**

Hadrian jogged through the rainy streets of Oak Town thinking about his meeting with Juvia. While it had gone better than his meeting with Gajeel, though that wouldn't have taken much, it hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped. Mostly it was because he had been plagued by this nagging feeling that she reminded him of someone, and he had no intention of digging into his past to try and remember. He'd just learn to live with it.

Hadrian started going from one shop to another seeing if anyone had a loft or something available to rent. Sadly all of them were either using them for storage or already had a tenant and so Hadrian just trudged on from one place to the next. After several hours of fruitless searching he decided to head back to the Guild and see if he could sleep behind the bar again.

"So what are you doing out on a day like this?"

Hadrian stopped and looked around, finally spotting the old man who spoke. He was seated behind an apple cart under an overhang built onto it.

"Oh, you're the guy from the other day. Uh, Mr. Cranul right?"

The old man chuckled "Haha, got it in one. So what's got you down?"

Hadrian sighed "I need a place to stay, but I can't afford an actual apartment and all the lofts in the market district have been taken." He leaned on the cart under the overhang. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do."

Mr. Cranul nodded "Ya the members of Phantom Lord have a tendency to be a bunch of skin flints, so even the ones that can afford a decent apartment generally don't get one. In any event I happen to have a warehouse nearby with an office that I don't use, so if you don't mind sharing a room with a filing cabinet, and not having an actual shower, I can help you out."

"Wait seriously?!" Hadrian narrowed his eyes "How much is this gonna cost me?"

Mr. Cranul scratched his beard "Hmmm, well it's not much to look at, hell it's only got a couch, a cupboard and a desk in it besides that filing cabinet I talked about. We'll call it 30,000 jewel a month and you can help me move in the bed after I order it, deal?" He extended his hand.

"Sounds great" Hadrian took his hand and shook it.

"Well let's go take a look at it, not like I'm selling anything today anyhow, gimme a hand?"

Some twenty minutes later Hadrian and Mr. Cranul pulled the cart into a warehouse full of crates, parking it off to the side. He then headed for a door on the right side of the warehouse pulled a key ring out of his pocket, selected a single brass key from it and slid it into the lock.

"Well, here we are, such as it is." said Mr. Cranul as he opened the door to a small side office. The room wasn't large, about a hundred feet square with the door in the left corner of the room. It had a beaten up couch on the far wall under a window that ran the length of the room, a cupboard on the far right corner of the room on the same wall as the door, the desk was in the diagonal corner from the door and finally the famous filing cabinet just to the left of the door.

"I know it's not great, but if you let it air out a bit I'm sure it won't be too bad. I think there's a blanket in the cupboard here." he said as he headed over to the cupboard. "I used to sleep in here when I came to town, but now I just stay at an Inn. Thankfully it only took me twenty years to figure out that sleeping on an actual bed is better than sleeping on a couch."

Hadrian had already propped open a couple of the window panes and was sitting on the couch when Mr. Cranul brought what looked like an old army blanket over to him.

"Here it is. It's not the softest blanket, but it is warm and the pillow is definitely nice. Anyway, I'll show you where the shower is." he said as he motioned for Hadrian to follow him out the door. They headed towards the back of the warehouse and Mr. Cranul guided them into another side room. This room contained a hose that was attached about five feet up a wall and had two valves under it.

"This is where we wash produce, the hose is connected to a Water Lacrima and these valves control temperature, the right one is hot and the left cold. In any event this wouldn't be the first time someone has showered in here."

"Let me guess, it only took you twenty years to realize a real shower is better?" Hadrian said with a smirk.

Mr. Cranul laughed as he smacked Hadrian on the back "Haha you certainly are sharp my young friend. So, here's the key and don't worry about the rent till next month."

Hadrian looked at Mr. Cranul with a surprised smile "Really?"

"Ya, just chalk it up to me being soft in my old age. Besides, can't have you turning into a workaholic just to pay your bills now can we?" he said with a laugh. "Anyway, here's the key and you can move in whenever it's convenient for you."

"Thanks again sir, I'm gonna head to back to the Guild Hall and get my stuff now." with that Hadrian ran off and Mr. Cranul was reminded of another young man who had run off years ago. He sincerely hoped things turned out better for this young man than it had for the other.

xx

"You asked for me, Master Jose?"

"Ah yes Juvia," said Jose as looked up from his desk "glad you came here so quickly. I've got a mission that perfectly matches your abilities."

"Tell me what you need Master."

 **Chapter 7: The Poison Claw Guild**

Hadrian walked into the Guild Hall with a new spring in his step and headed over to the bar to get his stuff. As he picked up his pack he saw Juvia descend the stairs and head towards him.

"Ah Hadrian, how fortunate that I found you, drip drip drop. I have need of you."

"Uh, ok. Do you need me to help you carry stuff or something?"

Juvia shook her head "No, I require someone of your talents for a job, drip drip drop."

Hadrian's face shifted from joy to confusion, "Wait, what do you mean "someone of my talents", you need a swordsmen or something?"

Juvia shook her head again "No I require someone who can track magic and I understand that this is how you found that Vulcan you defeated, drip drip drop."

Hadrian scratched his chin, how did she find out about that? "Oh, now I know. I kinda blabbed about that at the celebration that night, the guild must have found out about it that way."

Juvia nodded "Correct, Guild Wizards are terrible gossips and I overheard a few of them talking about how you can see magic."

"And you need me for that ability on this mission. So what is this particular mission?"

"I'll tell you the specifics once we are underway, but I can tell you that the mission involves us locating the Dark Guild Poison Claw out in the mountains where they are searching for a power magical artifact."

Hadrian's eyes widened "Wait, we are gonna be hunting a Dark Guild, by ourselves?" Juvia nodded. He sighed "Well, alright then. Can we drop my stuff off at my new place before we head out?"

"I will meet you at your place with a carriage. That should give you sufficient time to drop off your things, drip drip drop."

Hadrian shouldered his pack "Ok, I'll meet you at the produce warehouse in the market."

xx

An hour later Hadrian was seated comfortably in the plush carriage Juvia had hired, with her seated across from him, parasol next to her with her hands clasped together on her lap. The seats were covered in some kind of leather and where very comfortable. Combined with the high quality shocks on the carriage the ride was smooth and miles better than walking.

"Ok, so now that we are alone and on the road, can you tell me what this mission is about?"

"The mission is quite straightforward, but is far from easy, drip drip drop. The Dark Guild Poison Claw, lead by the wizard known only as Mamba, has taken up residence in one of the abandoned mines on the Eastern face of the mountains. When the wind blows down from the mountain it brings with it a toxic cloud that forces all of the people in the surrounding villages to shelter in their homes. This would be bad enough, but it has been discovered that they are searching for an artifact called the Mirrari. It is a Lacrima worked into the head of a staff, and while its appearance is simple it is very powerful."

Hadrian scratched his chin "So what does this Mirrari thing do?"

"From what I understand it can amplify a mages power by almost tenfold. I don't need to tell you how devastating it would be if a Dark Guild got its hands on something like this, drip drip drop."

Hadrian nodded "I'm willing to bet there's a bunch of old mines in the area, so you need me to trace the magic of the Dark Wizards who will undoubtedly be walking in and out of the one they are using as a base. And once I find them, it's your job to take them out."

Juvia nodded "That is largely it, drip drip drop."

"I've only got one question," said Hadrian as he gazed out the window, "why doesn't the Magic Council send a team in to deal with this?"

"We are the team." Juvia continued on despite Hadrian's shocked expression "The Magic Council asked Master Jose to deal with this, as they fear that if they send a Rune Knight team, Poison Claw will just hold the villagers hostage. However, if it appears as if it's just a normal job, they will likely be cocky and try to take us out, drip drip drop."

Hadrian's eyes widened, "You mean to tell me we are little more than _fucking bait_?! How the hell is that ok?!" Any further freaking out was stifled by Juvia bopping Hadrian on the head with her parasol "What was that for?"

"There is no reason for a young man such as yourself to use such language."

Hadrian stared blankly at Juvia "Are you fucking serious?" _*Bop*_ "Ok, I get it! No swearing." complained Hadrian, rubbing the bump that was forming on his head. Juvia simply replaced her parasol on the seat next to her and began to gaze out the window. Getting the hint that she didn't want to talk, Hadrian decided to mimic her and just look at the scenery for the rest of the trip.

xx

The trip lasted about a day and a half, with them arriving in the village just before noon. It was of course raining, but never the less a fair crowd of townsfolk had gathered to greet the wizards. As Juvia exited the carriage she seemed very surprised that so many people had gathered to greet them. She was greeted by the town mayor as Hadrian exited the carriage.

"Thank you for coming, this rain is such a blessing." he said as he shook her hand rather enthusiastically.

"A blessing, drip drip drop?" Juvia is clearly confused.

"Yes, for whatever reason rain seems to destroy the toxic cloud that blows down from the mountains. So we only feel safe leaving our homes when it is raining out, otherwise a cloud could blow down with no warning."

"I see, and you have no idea where they may be located?"

The man shook his head sadly "No. There are many old mine shafts up in the mountains and they could be in any of them. If we could help you in any way we are more than willing."

At this Hadrian piped up "You wouldn't happen to have any rope would you?"

Juvia gives him a look at the same time the man stammers "Um, yes, I mean, I guess we could find you a rope."

Juvia leaned in to Hadrian "And why do you want a rope?"

He shrugged "Never know when a good length of rope will come in handy." Juvia just rolled her eyes as a villager handed Hadrian a length of rope.

"We wish the both of you the best of luck."

Juvia and Hadrian headed up a path from the village into the mountain, with Hadrian in the lead using his Fairy Eyes spell. It didn't take long for him to pick up a trail. It was faint, several days old, but it was at least four distinct trails, but they had blended together into a thin gray mist. The trails all led into the same mine shaft on the far end of an open pit mine. Hadrian shifted into his Summer Court, his sword in his right hand and a small fairy light in his left. Juvia simply shook off her parasol before collapsing it and falling in behind Hadrian.

"Are there still only four trails, drip drip drop?"

He nodded "Yes, but these are a bit stronger. There are also more trails going in and out of here. I think the fact that they move around up here more is why the trails have lasted longer. It's still a gray mess, and I'm still not sure if there are more than four."

"It's all right Hadrian; we know more than we already did. For instance we know they are in here and that there are at least four of them, though I believe we should assume that there are more of them."

Hadrian nodded before setting off into the mine with Juvia on his tail.

 **Chapter 8: Trail in the Dark**

The mine shaft was wide enough to have three people walk abreast without brushing shoulders and still had the mine cart track down the center, but no cart was in sight. Since the trail followed the tracks Hadrian simply walked down the center of them with his palm held outward projecting the light forward like a flashlight. For a mine that apparently had a bunch of Dark Wizards in it, there was very little evidence of anyone having come through, the most obvious being the lack of light in the place.

Hadrian and Juvia continued deeper into the bowels of the mountain for what felt like a small eternity, eventually coming across a split in the tracks. Hadrian crouched on his haunches as he looked at the swirling trails. It was an absolute mess. There were definitely more than four now, but he wasn't sure how many more. He could make out at least nine separate trails, four of which were the ones he had seen blurred together earlier. As well as magical signs Hadrian saw several types of boot prints in the softer dirt on the sides of the cart tracks.

"Well, we are up to at least nine different trails now. Four of them are stronger than the others, so I would guess at least a dozen people, with those four being lieutenants or other high ranked mages."

"Good, we should-"Juvia suddenly grabbed Hadrian and ducked into the other tunnel. Hadrian thankfully had the presence of mind to extinguish the fairy light. Several seconds pass and Hadrian hears what Juvia had, several men talking to each other as they were walking up the shaft. Their light became visible several seconds after their voices.

"I'm just saying we should have put up a better ward! I mean how hard would it have been to link up a vision Lacrima to the thing, so every time a freakin bird lands in the entrance we don't have to walk all the way up there and check it?"

"Hey, I hear you, but you gotta talk to Minora, cuz she's the one that set the thing up."

"Oh hell no man, that bitch is fucking freaky!"

"Will you two just shut the hell up? We gotta walk up here whether you want to or not, so quite bitching about it."

Three men came into view, all dressed quite plainly, but each one had a patch on their right shoulder, a purple talon on a field of white, and were all carrying weapons. As they walked past their hiding place Juvia let go of Hadrian and cocked her hand back at the same time Hadrian crouched in a runner's stance.

"Water Nebula!"

The vortex of water hit the two thugs in the back of the group and blasted them forward onto their faces. The third turned around just in time to get Hadrian's boot to the face from a flying kick which sent him to the ground with Hadrian's boot still firmly planted on his face. All three thugs went down with no more than a gasp of surprise.

"Wow, if these are the caliber of Wizards we are gonna have to fight, this will be a breeze." said Hadrian as he nudged the downed man with his boot.

"I doubt that these are Wizards of any real standing in the Guild. We should still be careful, drip drip drop."

"Ya, ya, Juvia." Hadrian recreated his fairy light and examined the thugs trail "Well, these three aren't any of the trails I can make out here, so we still have at least nine unaccounted for Wizards. Oh fun." he said with legitimate enthusiasm. Juvia just shook her head as she followed Hadrian down the shaft. Gajeel was already rubbing off on this boy.

xx

It wasn't long before Hadrian spotted light up ahead and doused his own motioning for Juvia to get down. He could hear several voices coming out of the chamber up ahead, though they were too indistinct to guess as to how many there were. He shifted to Winter Court, activated his Shadow's Embrace spell, and crept forward. He poked his head around the corner and saw a well lit chamber that had three other exits, all with cart tracks, as well as several chairs and tables. It kinda looked like the Guild Hall.

There where half a dozen Wizards sitting at the various tables, none of which really stood out, except one. She sat alone in the far corner, a purple cowl pulled over her head. She was petite, but definitely had some curves to her, she wore a small, tight fitting, purple tube top, that barely covered her chest, a purple bikini bottom and knee high leather boots with matching full arm leather gloves. She was using a pen to write on what appeared to be a sword.

Hadrian snuck back to Juvia, "Ok, so there're six of them in there, including, who I can only assume is, Minora, judging by the fact that she looks creepy and is writing on a sword."

"She must be using Enchantment Magic. This could be problematic, drip drip drop."

"Well, no use just standing around, I'll take the other schmucks you take the Enchanter." and before Juvia could say anything else Hadrian had already shifted back to Summer Court and charged into the room, preceded by a very large Fairy Flash.

Hadrian shoulder checked the nearest Wizard before he had a chance to realize what had happened and a quick kick to his head took him out of the fight before he could recover. As he turned to face another target he had to dive to his side as one of the mages started shooting fire in the general direction of the entrance. He was stopped by a blade of water cutting through the flames and slamming him into the back wall. Hadrian heard something behind him and turned just in time to catch an axe on his sword.

"I'm gonna kill you, you little brat!"

Hadrian wordlessly dropped into a leg sweep which caught the man off guard and dropped him. Before he could finish falling Hadrian smashed his pommel into the man's face, he crumpled when he hit the ground. Hadrian then pivoted on his heel and raised his sword to parry the attacks of the two remaining mages. One was armed with a spear and the other had an arming sword and they obviously knew how to work together. _Good, this might actually be a bit fun,_ thought Hadrian.

Juvia walked through the tattered remnants of the fire storm directly towards the woman she assumed was Minora, who had drawn a dagger and was holding it in a reverse grip, the sword she had been writing on held high and pointed at Juvia.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am Juvia of the Great Sea. I am also called Juvia the Rain Woman. I am one of the Element Four of Phantom Lord and I have come here to deal with your Guild."

With that Juvia swept her arm in front of her sending a trio of water blades shooting at the mage, who swept her sword through them causing them to fall apart. She charged Juvia, who made no attempt to dodge, and swung her sword straight through her. The blade passed harmlessly through Juvia's body.

"Wha-What are you?"

"That was my Water Body. Physical attacks have no effect on me." Juvia flicked her arm out and it transformed into a long geyser of water and slammed the Enchanter into the wall, knocking her unconscious. Juvia turned just in time to see Hadrian finish off his last opponent with an uppercut.

"Well that was sad. I barely broke a sweat on these jokers."

Juvia was cut off by wet chuckle from one of Hadrian's not yet unconscious opponents. "Haha, we're just bottom rung. You two are dead. The Three Claws will deal with you."

"Who the hell are the Three Claws? Tell us!" yelled Hadrian as he shook the man, who had already passed out. Hadrian dropped him in disgust before looking at Juvia.

"I'm not sure but I believe that the Three Claws are the enforcers of the Poison Claw Guild. Sadly Master Jose had very little information on them."

Hadrian shook his head resignedly before scanning the other entrances. "Well, on the plus side those four trails I saw earlier all head in this one, so all we got left is the Three Claws and this Mamba guy."

Motioning for Juvia to enter the shaft Hadrian lit his fairy light once more and followed her in. Unlike the previous shafts with their gentle decline, this one had a much sharper decline and so the going was slower as they tried not to slip on the loose earth. Thankfully the shaft leveled out after a short distance.

"I hear something." said Juvia cocking her head.

Hadrian doused his light, "What is it?"

Juvia pursed her lips, "It sounds like a waterfall."

Hadrian grinned "Well let's hope that those Three Claw idiots are stupid enough to fight you next to water."

Juvia nodded "I believe that I can see some light from up ahead."

"Ok, let's try and sneak up on them."

The two crept forward around a gentle bend, which revealed a wooden bridge spanning a chasm that was lit with several Lacrima. The cart tracks went across the bridge and into another lit tunnel on the other side. Before they could reach the bridge the ground under Hadrian's feet gave way and he fell before he could grab hold of anything.

"Hadrian!" Juvia shouted as she spun and tried to grab him, but she missed his hand in the dark.

"You've got more serious problems"

As Juvia slowly turned around, she saw two men. One was heavily muscled with dark skin and an afro, and was wearing a dark blue jacket with jeans, a green hoodie and a set of round sunglasses. Other than being tall and well muscled the other could have been the first's complete opposite. He was a pale skinned man with his white hair cut into a short flat top. He was wearing black wizard armor with red trim. It had large rounded pauldrons, a high collar that encircled his neck, but left his throat open, and a large flared waist guard that extended nearly to his knees. The rest of his armor looked like fairly typical plate and he had what looked like a red cloak with black edging going through it almost like veins. He held a blood red, leaf bladed, hand and a half sword with a black center over the blood groove.

The armored one spoke again "You have to deal with two of the Three Claws."

xx

Hadrian fell through dirt, and then open air before hitting rock and sliding downwards. He slipped the length of rope of his body and quickly tied it around the hilt of his sword and as he shot out of a hole and into open space he threw his sword at the bridge overhead. The sword embedded itself into one of the support struts of the bridge and held as the rope went taught. Hadrian jumped off to the other side of the chasm and quickly took in his surroundings. He was standing next to a chasm in which the waterfall he and Juvia had heard emptied, the floor was largely empty with nothing more than a few stalagmites in evidence and what looked like an elevator just on the other side of the bridge.

"Well that's lucky" he said as he headed for the elevator.

Something told him to dive, and never being one to question his gut, he did, and something shot past him and exploded on the far wall.

"Well, well, well, looks like I might get a bit of fun after all." Hadrian picked himself up off the ground and saw the man who had spoke. He was lanky with dark spiky hair, a long grey coat with a hood up and high collar that covered his mouth. He held a staff with what looked like a large corkscrew on its head in his right hand and what looked like a crystal bug in his left.

"And who are you?"

The man gestured to himself with the crystal, "Me? I'm Bagu the Hivemaster, one of the Three Claws of the Poison Claw Guild and you are a dead man."

Hadrian summoned his sword and took up his fencer's stance. "No, I'm a Fairy."


	3. Chapter 3

My apologies for the delay on this chapter. I was struck down with the terrible affliction known as procrastination. I have since over come it but it may resurface at any time. Hopefully i will have the next chapter out faster than this one.

 **Chapter 9: The Twin Claws**

Juvia walked out of the tunnel and onto the bridge, scanning the area for further threats. The bridge spanned a chasm that seemed to have been formed by the waterfall to her left, which was far enough away that she couldn't feel it's spray, but close enough that she could use it if necessary. She was also happy to see that below the bridge on the far side of the chasm ran a fairly broad ledge, so Hadrian may have been able to grab onto that.

She stopped about a quarter of the way across "I am Juvia of the Great Sea of the Phantom Lord Guild, and who might you two be, drip drip drop?"

"Why you upstart little-"the afro-ed man was cut off by his compatriot.

"He is Hone Marrow, 2nd Lieutenant of Poison Claw and I am Black Knight Aldric, 1st Lieutenant of Poison Claw. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you, but having to kill you ruins it."

With that Hone slammed his closed right fist into his open left palm.

"Bone Make Lance!"

A Magic Circle appeared in front of him and shot out multiple bone darts. Juvia simply stood impassively as they flew towards her, and ultimately, through her. Her only reaction was to tilt her head to the left and raise her right hand across her body, before sweeping it out in front of her.

"Water Slicer."

As the blades shoot towards Hone, Juvia saw a Magic Circle form next to Aldric's right hand.

"Requip: Sea Emperor's Trident"

His sword is replaced by a pale green trident that looked as if it was made from coral and before Juvia could wonder what he was doing, he had swept it in front of her attacks and had caused them to part around him and Hone. Hone raised his hands above his head, fist to palm, and created a Magic Circle under him.

"Bone Make Maiden!" he yelled as he slammed his hands onto the ground. A Magic Circle under Juvia heralded the arrival of what appeared to be a bone coffin lined with spikes. It formed around Juvia and quickly slammed shut.

"Hahahaha! Well that got the uppity little bitch." crowed Hone. Aldric's only response was a noncommittal grunt.

"Oh come on man, no one has survived the Bone Maiden before, and no stinking bitch from some Light Guild is gonna either." This was punctuated by the Bone Maiden exploding and a very angry Juvia walking out.

"You should watch your language." she deadpanned as she dropped the shredded remains of her parasol. "Water Lock."

A sphere of water formed around the two, with Hone's eyes darting around in a panic. Aldric simply gestured with his Trident and the Water Lock collapsed into a massive puddle. Juvia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Just as I thought, that Trident gives you power over water, doesn't it, drip drip drop?"

"Correct madam, and from what I have seen, you are immune to physical attacks, are you not?"

Juvia's response was to send a Water Nebula straight at Aldric, who simply batted it aside and narrowed his eyes.

"We seem to be at a bit of an impasse here." he said before turning to his companion. "Hone, cover me. Requip: Lightning Emperor's Spear!" His Trident was replaced by a spear with a black handle and a yellow circular crest at the base the blade. Aldric thrust the spear at Juvia and the blade split down the middle, firing a bolt of lightning out of the newly created cavity. Juvia dove to the side and came up in a roll, firing off several Water Slicers towards the Requipper.

"Bone Make Pillars."

Several bone pillars appeared on the bridge and intercepted most of Juvia's attacks. The few that made it through were easily dodged by Aldric, whose spear had shifted once again, now the blades where perpendicular to the shaft forming a large T.

"Lightning Storm!"

He swept the weapon in a broad arc in front of him firing off several bolts down the bridge. Juvia dodged the first two, but as she came out of a roll one hit her square in the chest knocking her back. Using the attacks momentum she flipped backwards and landed on her feet.

"Water Nebula!"

The twin helix of water jets rocketed down the bridge only to be intercepted by another series of Bone Pillars, but Juvia had been expecting that. As the pillars rose she moved across the width of the bridge and fired half a dozen Water Slicers at Hone, who was busy concentrating on the pillars. She wasn't expecting Aldric to dive across and bat most of them away with his twirling spear. One still made it through, hitting him in the side, but it looked as if his armor protected him from the worst of it.

"Alright, I'm done being polite" He growled in pain "We finish her now."

"I was waiting for that." Hone chuckled "Bone Make Jaw!"

A pair of massive bone jaws, complete with teeth appeared under Juvia, snapping shut on her, or rather, through her. Before she could understand what they were planning Aldric had already jumped high over the bridge and fired another Lightning Storm at her. Juvia tried to back up, but she then realized that the Jaw was preventing her from moving. Juvia crossed her arms in front of her just before she and the Jaw disappeared in a vicious explosion.

"Think that got her?" asked Hone

"I'm not sure, be ready in any case."

As the smoke cleared both Dark Wizards saw Juvia, still very much alive, outside of the Jaw and with a Water Wall in front of her.

"Very clever you two, the Bone Maker immobilizes me while the one who can actually harm me is free to attack. Sadly, you underestimated me, drip drip drop."

"You can be sure that it won't be happening again" growled Aldric

"Bone Make Coffin!"

The coffin barely had time to enclose her before she had blasted it apart once again. She looked around trying to find Aldric, but he had disappeared. Then the lighting struck, and Juvia screamed as her world was filled with pain.

 **Chapter 10: The Hivemaster**

Bagu laughed as he threw another crystal bug at Hadrian, who dove under it and charged for him. Bagu swept his staff up and across his body and created a buzzing cloud in between Hadrian who tried to ram his sword through it. The cloud, a swarm of insects of some kind, congealed around his sword and deflected the thrust. As he pulled his sword out, the bugs started to come with it and he leapt back and the bugs went back into the swarm.

"What the hell is that magic?"

Bagu laughed as he gestured with his staff. "Hahaha, this is my Hive Staff. It lets me create bugs out of magic power, and these little things are nasty. As you just saw they can form protective shields, but, they're also good at causing pain!"

With that he thrust the staff at Hadrian and the swarm corkscrewed through the air and slammed into the ground where he had been several seconds ago. Hadrian had hand sprung away once Bagu had started moving, but he wasn't prepared when a crystal bug slammed into his chest and detonated. Thankfully, his Fairy Shield held, but that didn't stop him from getting launched across the ledge.

Hadrian planted his hand into the ground to slow himself and get his legs under him. After stopping he had to leap to his right as another crystal bug shot towards him, detonating where he had just been and showering him in bits of rock. As he landed he had to jump back again as another bug headed towards him. As he landed for the third time Hadrian immediately dove behind a nearby stalagmite seeking cover, where he shifted to his Autumn Court.

"So you like explosions huh? Then why don't you take some of this! Will O Wisp!"

Hadrian dove out of cover, firing several blasts blindly as he activated his Fairy Dance spell. Bagu simply withdrew his swarm and used it to shield himself from the fire, though dozens of the bugs fell to the ground and dissipated. Hadrian kept up the assault, rapidly circling Bagu while keeping up a near constant stream of fire. Bagu simply kept his swarm held tightly around him, intercepting Hadrian's attacks, while he began to hurl crystal bugs back at him. Thankfully his swarm being so close to him made it hard to see clearly so he was largely throwing blind.

This didn't stop a few from getting disturbingly close to Hadrian, who simply tried to increase his speed in an attempt to throw off Bagu's aim. Sadly, his flames where doing nil, and he was out of range to use his Fairy Fog so he took cover behind a nearby stalagmite to catch his breath and think. As he was catching his breath and Bagu was attempting to relocate him, Hadrian heard a woman scream above him. It was Juvia screaming, but that wasn't what Hadrian was hearing, and he was no longer in that cave.

xx

He could hear her screaming outside as that bastard beat her. She had tried to stand against him to protect Hadrian and their mother. She had thought her magic would level the field. She had been wrong. Hadrian could see them silhouetted by the fires that had started through the window. He wanted to help, he wanted to go save her, but he would just make it worse.

"Run Hadrian." said his mother, through her busted lip. He turned and looked at her broken face, her right eye was puffy and black, her lips where split from where that bastard had hit her.

"Run and never look back" She grabbed a pack out of a cupboard. "I've put this together for you so you can leave" she was interrupted as his sister suddenly screamed loudly and was abruptly cut off. He could hear the bastard laughing as he headed for the door.

"Get out of here Hadrian!" his mother yelled as she pushed him towards the back window and staggered towards the front door. Hadrian didn't look back, he ran.

xx

"Well, ain't that sound just beautiful?" said Bagu, wrenching Hadrian from his past. "I just love the sound of a stuck up little bitch screaming in pain."

With that comment something snapped in Hadrian. He wasn't seeing Bagu anymore, he was seeing that bastard, the bastard that had killed his sister and his mother, and he wasn't going to let him do that every again.

"You shut your damn mouth." said Hadrian as he stepped out from cover. Bagu turned and was going to say some snarky remark, but something stopped him. It was the kids eyes, they where different. Before they had been a bright green, but now they where blood red and the sclera where black, but it was more than that. Where before the kid's eyes just showed anger, Bagu now saw nothing but murder in them.

Hadrian felt power rush through him as he shifted into Winter Court, summoned his dagger, and rushed at Bagu activating his Fairy Speed spell as he did. He swiftly slashed through the swarm and spun about as he flew past getting ready for another attack. While he had definitely frozen a fair few of the bugs with that attack, most of the swarm was still intact.

xx

Bagu was unnerved, suddenly this kid was too fast to follow and his attacks where freezing bits of his swarm and he didn't stay still long enough for Bagu to get any kind of fix to throw a bomb. While this initially freaked him out, after a bit he realized that he had no reason for concern, his Hive Staff didn't take a lot of energy when it was in defensive mode so he would be able to keep this up for awhile yet.

xx

Hadrian saw that Bagu had begun to noticeably relax and that his attacks where having almost no effect, it came to him, Bagu was going to play the long game and wait for Hadrian to exhaust himself. Except that Hadrian wasn't going to let that happen. After his next attack he pivoted and stuck out his left hand and formed a Magic Circle, this one black with a snowflake in its center and rammed his dagger into it.

"Fairy Magic: Moonflower!" A beam of white light shot out from the circle and it froze everything it hit, which just happened to include Bagu's right arm, which held his Hive Staff.

xx

Bagu was full on panicking now. This kid was nuts, his fucking arm was trapped in a wall of ice and he was shaking so much that he couldn't grab any of his fucking bombs. He glanced down to his pocket just as he grabbed a bomb and as he looked up, the kid was in front of him. He had somehow closed over 50 feet in the matter of a heartbeat. Then Bagu felt something cold stab into his gut and he thought he heard the kid whisper "Rime Prison." Then it all went dark.

xx

Hadrian extracted the knife from the man's gut, it was clean. Not because it had some ability that repelled blood, but because the knife didn't really stab. All it did is create an ice prison just over the person's skin and hold them in stasis until it wore off. While Hadrian would have almost preferred to have killed this scumbag he knew it wouldn't have been right. Hearing an explosion on top of the bridge Hadrian took off for the elevator and to help Juvia.

 **Chapter 11: Battle on the Bridge**

Juvia came out of her roll panting, her arm up in a defensive posture. These two were far more difficult than she had originally anticipated, but she could see the Bone Maker was beginning to tire. Sadly it was the Requipper who was the real threat and he didn't look tired at all. She lashed out with her Water Whip smashing through several Bone Pillars while dodging the return fire from Aldric. Her biggest problem was Aldric's mobility, the man seemed able to move around the bridge with impunity, and it wasn't as if he was teleporting, so how was he doing it?

Juvia fired a Water Nebula at Hone, who dove to the side, to late realizing that she had lost track of Aldric. She heard a clang and as she turned she saw Hadrian, in what looked like a midair dive, parrying Aldric's spear. As he landed he went for a quick slash at Aldrics feet but he just used his spear as a vaulting pole and lifted himself over it. Seeing as Hadrian had her back she turned to the Bone Make Wizard.

"Looks like it's just you and me, drip drip drop."

xx

Hadrian went after the armored Wizard with a series of quick thrusts trying to push him back from Juvia. The man neatly parried the thrusts with his spear haft, but he did back up and Hadrian continued to press him. The Wizard's spear blade split in half as he stabbed it down at Hadrian, shooting off lighting as it embedded itself where Hadrian had been seconds before. Hadrian swung for the man's legs again, but he vaulted forward once more, but Hadrian was ready for it this time.

Hadrian cocked his wrist and turned the slash into an over the shoulder thrust, catching the man on the back of his thigh. The man grunted in pain as the tip dug a bit into his armor, not enough to cripple him, but enough to draw blood. Before Hadrian could react, the man spun around catching him in the head with the butt of his spear and sent him sprawling back.

"You little brat, I'm going to kill you." he growled as he stalked towards Hadrian with only a small hitch in his stride.

"Not if you can't find me" said Hadrian as he shifted to Autumn Court, flooded the area he was in with Fairy Fog and rolled to his left as the spear rammed into the bridge where his head had been seconds before. Hadrian came out his roll on his feat, already switched back to Summer Court and his blade poised for a thrust into the man's back. That's when he heard a whistling sound, a wet crunching noise and felt a pain in his chest as his Fairy Shield broke.

xx

Juvia walked towards Hone, who backed up and desperately threw an attack at her, panic written on his face.

"You never learn, do you? Drip drip drop." She said as she raised her hand and effortlessly batted aside his attack. He then attempted to trap her with his Bone Jaws, but without Aldric to worry about it was easily dodged. Hone kept hurling attack after attack at Juvia, but she kept batting them aside or simply walked through them, the whole time getting closer and closer to him.

As she closed, Hone looked past her and got a wild grin on his face, then he started to cackle. He slammed his fist into his palm pointing it at the bridge, creating a Magic Circle around his feet.

"Bone Make: Coffin!"

A large coffin, not unlike his Bone Maiden, formed around Hone, the door closing as it finished materializing.

"That won't save you, Water Whip!" Juvia's arm shot out, the long geyser of water slamming into the coffin and blowing it to pieces. She had been expecting to hear a scream, or at least a grunt, but there was nothing. The reason why was obvious after the dust settled, there was no one in it. A surge of Magic Power clued her in to what had happened. Juvia looked behind her and saw Hone stepping out of an identical coffin behind Hadrian, his arm tipped with a wicked looking bone spike.

Juvia didn't even think, she simply spun her body around; leaving her Water Whip extended, and smashed it into Hone's side. Juvia heard a wet crunching sound as the whip connected and carried Hone into, and through, the bridge's railing, sending him flying into space. A grunt from Hadrian brought her attention back. He had fallen onto his back, clutching his chest where the butt of Aldric's spear had caught him.

Her arm returned to normal Juvia gestured towards the falls and brought the water onto the bridge, coalescing it into a wall in between Hadrian and Aldric. Aldric only had enough time to look confused before the wall exploded into him sending him hurtling back, down the bridge.

"Are you alright Hadrian?" asked Juvia as she approached his side, her arm still outstretched.

Hadrian picked himself up with a groan "Ya, I'll live, but he busted through my Fairy Shield, it must have been weakened earlier."

"Then stay back, I shouldn't have any trouble with him now that he's alone"

"Oh you think so, do you?" growled Aldric as he picked himself up off the ground, "I'll just have to make you rethink that. Requip: Friothalaca Fola!" His Lightning Emperor Spear vanished as another weapon appeared; this one was a large two handed sword. The blade was an unremarkable double edged steel; however the cross guard looked like red bat wings and in the center there was a jewel cut to look like a blood red cat's eye, this jewel was mimicked on the pommel stud. Aldric took up a stance with the sword held high above his head.

"Now you both die." With that he charged, his cloak splitting into a pair of blood red bat wings, which lifted him off the ground and sent him hurtling towards Juvia. She quickly pushed Hadrian to the side as she jumped back, just before Aldric's blade bit into the bridge.

"Blackwing Armor, so that's how you were able to move so fast, but why wait till now to use its flight ability?"

"Simple, I find using flight to be a lazy way to defeat one's opponents. The other benefits of the armor are typically enough, but the two of you are particularly stubborn!" The last comment was punctuated by Aldric launching a series of multidirectional slashes at Juvia, who dodged backwards giving ground to Aldric. As she dodged one of his slashes caught Juvia in her left arm, and while it passed through her Water Body the sword came out red and Juvia felt agonizing pain. She screamed as she fell to her knee clutching her arm.

"Do you like my Friothalaca Fola? It means Blood Feeder and I'm glad to see that my suspicions where correct. While your body may be made of water when you are hit by a physical attack you still need blood and that is what this sword feeds on." As Aldric stood over Juvia the blood on the swords blade was absorbed into it and it took on a slightly redder hue. Aldric raised his blade above his head, preparing for an executioner's stroke.

"As it absorbs blood the sword gains more power, just as you lose it." With that brought the sword down and Juvia closed her eyes, still paralyzed with pain. She opened them when she heard a loud clang in front of her. As she looked up she saw Hadrian standing in between her and Aldric, his sword raised in a high block, holding the bigger man's sword at bay.

"Don't you dare touch her" Hadrian growled as he pushed Aldric's sword to the side and then drove his shoulder into the man's gut sending him stumbling back. Then he did something Juvia had never seen him do before. He raised his left hand and created a golden Magic Circle then rammed his sword through it.

"Fairy Magic: Sunflower!"

A beam of golden light shot out of the circle and slammed into Aldric's raised blade and split around him, though the force still slide him back. The beam lasted for no more than two heartbeats but it had shoved Aldric back more than 10 feet. However the victory was short lived as Hadrian swayed on his feet, barely able to keep himself up as Aldric advanced towards him.

"Water Lock"

Water pooled around Aldric's feet and then rapidly covered him in a sphere. Before he could Requip, Hadrian had already switched to Winter Court and thrown his dagger into the sphere causing it to begin to freeze. Before she lost control of it Juvia hurled the Water Lock through the bridge railing where the ice shattered and hurled Aldric across the ledge. Thankfully he wasn't moving.

"Are you all right Hadrian?"

"Ya" Hadrian panted "just gimme a few seconds and I'll be good to go." He shifted into his Spring Court and Juvia watched as his minor injuries began to disappear and his breathing slowed.

"Ok, im good."

 **Chapter 12: Mamba**

The two set off deeper into the mine still following the mine car tacks which ended shortly after the bridge and signs of new diggings becoming more obvious as the two headed ever downward. After coming to the bottom of a slope they entered a small cavern which looked like it was being used for the storage of mining equipment.

"Well, now we know what they've been up to since they got here." said Hadrian as he looked around.

Juvia nodded "The Mirrari must be buried, let's hope we are not too late."

"Oh, you two most definitely are."

Hadrian and Juvia turned to the far end of the cavern and saw a middle aged man clad in the raiment of a ninja with a red scarf covering his mouth and black metal greaves on his legs. He held a gnarled staff with a clear crystal on its top, a small kunai in his other hand and a short sword rode on his hip.

"As you can see I already possess the Mirrari, and with it in my possession you have no chance of victory"

Hadrian just smirked "So you got a shiny new stick, it's not gonna help you."

Mamaba just regarded Hadrian with a flat stare and Juvia couldn't help but smile a little, the boy's confidence was infectious.

"If that is what you think, I believe you need a demonstration. Poison Magic: Poisoned Blade Rain!"

Mamba flicked his wrist sending the kunai flying towards Juvia. Moments after leaving his hand it multiplied into nearly a dozen knives soaring towards the pair. Hadrian dove to his left as the knives soared past, but two of them passed through Juvia.

"My Water Body makes me impervious to your-ugh." She doubled over gripping her stomach, her face more pale than usual. "What have you done to me?"

"I've poisoned you, just as my name suggests. At the moment there is a potent toxin working its way through you, though I do believe your Water Body is probably slowing it down, maybe even diluting it." With a flick of his wrist he produced another knife "Though that can be fixed with another dose."

With that he hurled his kunai and it once again duplicated. This time however the blades where intercepted by Hadrian's sword and two bounced off his Fairy Shield. Before the kunai hit the ground Hadrian had charged Mamba opening with a solid thrust aimed for his middle, which was parried by the staff. Mamba aimed a pommel strike at Hadrian as he drew his sword, shifting his grip as Hadrian dodged it, then aiming a series of fast hacking chops at the young boy's head which Hadrian parried.

Hadrian back flipped away rebounding mid flip off a stalagmite and used it to springboard himself once more towards the ninja. Mamba once again parried the attack with the staff, though this time Hadrian's forward momentum carried him past Mamba who took full advantage and slashed his sword through the boy's side. With a cry of pain Hadrian fell to the ground and slid, eventually coming to rest next to a pile of tools, clutching his side. Mamba twirled his sword as he approached the fallen boy.

"I'll give you this kid, you got guts, but you are sorely outmatched."

Mamba suddenly jumped straight up as a water blade passed through the space he had been occupying seconds before. Juvia was upright and looked very angry. Before he could land Juvia had hurled another series of water blades, which he neatly deflected with his sword. As he landed she launched another attack at him, this one a spinning double helix made of water which Mamba simply dodged by diving to his side.

"Well you're more stubborn than I thought. Even diluted that poison should have you on your knees by now."

"I will not stand idly by while you hurt my friend." Juvia panted

"It's your funeral. In any event it's not like you're going to save your friend. That sword wound would have allowed even more poison to enter his system than you have in yours, and he's half your size. He'll be dead in a minute."

"Then I'll just have to stop you before that."

xx

Hadrian returned to consciousness with a burning pain in his side. As he gingerly felt the cut he saw Juvia going toe to toe with Mamba, hurling attacks at him with ferocity he had yet to see and Mamba responding with very few, but very accurate, attacks of his own. Hadrian could also see the poison beginning to slow Juvia down. For his own part he had been able to shift into his Spring Court as he skidded across the floor and he now saw a small puddle of the poison where his hand had been resting, though he still felt terrible.

Hadrian teetered to his feet and grabbed a pickax handle, as he wouldn't be able to shift out of Spring Court until he was healed as he may still have poison in his system, and started to stagger towards Mamba. Before he could get there one of Mamba's kunais went through Juvia's leg and she collapsed. With a fresh surge of adrenaline Hadrian closed the distance just as Mamba raised his staff to strike her. He hauled back and smashed the handle into Mamba's arm with an audible crack and sent the staff flying. Mamba screamed in pain as he spun and backhanded Hadrian away.

xx

That little brat had broken his arm, and now he had lost his grip on the Mirrari. Mamba looked about his feet for the staff, it couldn't have gone far. After he found it he was going to finally finish off that annoying kid and the water bitch. A shuffling sound made him look to where the kid had landed. He was laying some ten feet away, and next to him was the staff. Before Mamba could move to retrieve it, the kid tried to stand up and as he did his hand made contact with the staff.

xx

Juvia had briefly lost consciousness when Mamba's kunai had passed through her leg and when she opened her eyes she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mamba was staring in shock at what looked like a massive updraft of white light which seemed to have formed around a small figure, Hadrian. Juvia couldn't see more than his silhouette, but as he stood up he grew in stature and became clad in armor and a large cloak, but what was strangest of all were the large antlers that appeared to be growing from his head. He stood a full head taller than Mamba and the only real detail that Juvia could pick out of the stream was his glowing red eyes. He lifted his staff and pointed it at Mamba:

"King's Judgment"

The voice was deep, commanding, and utterly without mercy. A black Magic Circle with a snowflake in its center appeared above Mamba, then an orange one with a single leaf in its center above that one, then a golden one with a flower and finally a green one with a tree. When the final one appeared, the figure slashed the staff downwards and a massive beam of pure magical power slammed into Mamba and all Juvia could hear over the roar was his scream.

After an instant that felt like an eternity, the screaming stopped and Mamba collapsed to the ground. The updraft of light had stopped as the beam had fired, though Juvia could hear someone walking towards her. She saw Hadrian, leaning on the staff, his eyes glazed over, stop at her side.

"Are you ok?"

Juvia nodded and Hadrian sighed in relief. "Good, no one hurts my sister." And then he collapsed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 13: A Fairy's Tears**

Hadrian slowly returned to consciousness, but instead of feeling the hard stone he was expecting he felt a feathery softness. He opened his eyes and sat up with a groan to look around the small room he found himself in. It had whitewashed wooden walls and was sparsely furnished, with only a single small round table and a pair of chairs and one small dresser. The bed Hadrian was on dominated the majority of the room and was covered in a large green comforter.

"I must be in the Inn" he said as he laid back down. He then looked down at himself as he realized he was shirtless and had his injuries bandaged. Before he could examine himself further Juvia walked in with a relieved look upon seeing him awake.

"Good you're up, I was worried."

Hadrian rolled his eyes "There's no need to worry about me, I was fine."

Juvia frowned as she crossed her arms, "There was plenty of reason to be concerned. You took a very serious blow from a poisoned sword, used up all of your magic, and then some, and then passed out from magical exhaustion."

It was Hadrian's turn to frown "Wait, I remember the sword hit, but what do you mean I used up all my magic?"

Juvia pointed to the corner of the room to where a staff was resting. "You used the Mirrari to take out Mamba. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I'm not surprised that you don't remember, you where wielding far more power than you should have."

Hadrian just looked at her incredulously "Are you serious?"

She nodded "Yes, I was down from Mamba's poison and then you attacked him from behind sending the staff flying. Then he sent you flying and as you were getting up your hand touched the staff, after that you…changed. You turned into some sort of giant and blasted Mamba with an incredible amount of magic. After he was down you came over to check on me, and that's when you passed out."

"Wait, if I passed out and you where down, how did we get out."

"Simple, I saw a small pool of water nearby and I used it to clear the poison out of my system. It was relatively simple, I just needed time. Once I did that I just carried you out of the mine."

Hadrian nodded in understanding "So then you went back for the staff?"

Juvia shook her head "No Hadrian, you wouldn't let go of it."

He gave her a blank look "You couldn't take a staff out of my unconscious hands?"

"No, you had it in a death grip. You wouldn't let go of it until a few hours ago, that's when I moved it to the corner. Everyone else is afraid to touch it; for fear that its power would corrupt them, though I would say that that particular legend appears to be wrong if you are any indication."

Hadrian eyed the staff dubiously "Well I don't remember using the thing, so I'm not exactly in a hurry to grab it again either."

"Good, the Rune Knights should be here soon to pick it up and take it back to the Magic Council."

Hadrian looked back at her shocked "Really? Wow they're fast."

Juvia chuckled "No Hadrian, you've just been asleep for two days. I'll go get you something to eat now." And with that she left Hadrian sitting in bed slack jawed.

xx

Hadrian scarfed down the food that Juvia brought back as she watched in a mix of fascination and horror. In less than five minutes Hadrian had eaten a steak, half a chicken, a loaf of bread and half a wheel of cheese. It was astonishing how someone so small could eat so much. After he was done and Juvia had removed the carcass of his dinner, she sat down next to the bed in one of the room's chairs.

"Hadrian, just before you passed out you said something."

"Ya, what did I say? Oh god please don't tell me I said something dumb!"

Juvia shook her head, "No, you just asked me if I was ok and then said 'Good, no one hurts my sister', then you collapsed. I didn't realize you had a sister."

"I don't anymore."

Juvia's hand shot to her mouth "Oh no, I'm so sorry Hadrian! I didn't mean-"

"It's fine."Hadrian said, harsher than he intended. "She died a few years ago. I don't really wanna talk about it and I don't want everybody feeling sorry for me."

"I understand."

"You remind me of her though." Juvia looked shocked as Hadrian continued "She had blue hair, just like you, though it was shorter. Other than that, it's just your eyes. You both have such loving eyes." At that Hadrian turned away, hiding a sniffle and his eyes tearing up with a small cough. "Anyway, you just kinda remind me of her, so that's probably why I said it."

Juvia stood up and hugged Hadrian hard. Hadrian froze as her arms encircled him. After a few seconds he hugged her back, and he definitely wasn't crying. The fur from her coat had gotten in his eyes, ya, that was it.

After a few seconds Juvia pulled away "I'll always be here for you Hadrian." She said as she ruffled his hair.

Hadrian pushed her away with a frown "Ya well, I don't need you babying me" the look he gave her was full of conviction "but I'll always have your back."

xx

A few hours later Juvia peeked into Hadrian's room and, seeing him dressed and out of bed, entered. He picked up the Mirrari and turned towards her.

"The Rune Knights are here?"

Juvia nodded, "They are waiting outside for you to bring them the staff."

Hadrian nodded and walked, rather stiffly, out the door and down the stairs.

"Are you sure you're alright?" asked Juvia as she followed him

Hadrian rolled his eyes "Yes mom, I'll be fine. I gotta start walking some time."

As Hadrian walked through the Inn's common room he saw that most of the townsfolk where avoiding looking at him and none where in between him and the door. He glanced at the staff in his hands and back at the people who were trying very hard not to look at him. Hadrian just shook his head and kept walking. The staff was only as dangerous as the person wielding it, wasn't he proof of that?

At that Juvia's words about what had happened crept into his thoughts. Maybe he wasn't immune to the staff's power. Maybe he just got lucky that the only thing he had wanted to do was crush that creep Mamba. Hadrian suppressed a shiver at that thought. He knew he had to give this to the Rune Knights so they could lock it up in the Magic Council's vault and hope that no one got their hands on it. Otherwise things could get very, very ugly.

Hadrian stepped out the front door and pulled up his hood as he walked into the rain and turned down the street towards the figures in white. In the front of the half dozen Rune Knights stood a man of average height and build with long dark hair tied up high on the back of his head, though he let two bangs frame his face and his lavender eyes were visible behind his circular framed glasses.

"I am Lahar of the Rune Knights, I believe you would be Hadrian, and you would be Juvia." He gestures to the large glass paned box on the ground next to him. "If you would be so kind as to put the Mirrari in the Sealing Box, we can be on our way."

Hadrian stepped forward and, gently, placed the Mirrari in the box. Almost before he could pull his hand out, chains covered in sealing tags sprang forth from the sides of the box and bound the staff tightly inside. Once the chains where finished the lid on the box closed itself with a small flash of light and a lock formed on the latch complete with a seal tag.

Two Rune Knights stooped and lifted the box into the back of the wagon as the others clambered into the awaiting carriages. Lehar turned back to the Phantom Lord Wizards and bowed his head in thanks.

"Thank you for your assistance in dealing with these Dark Guild Wizards and for your cooperation afterwards."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he straightened, turned on his heel and boarded the waiting carriage.

Hadrian and Juvia stood in the rain watching the carriages pull away for a bit. Then Juvia put her hand on Hadrian's shoulder and leaned towards him.

"Let's go home."

 **Chapter 14: Dragon's Hunt**

Juvia said her farewells to Hadrian at his warehouse home. As the carriage pulled away she sat with her hands folded on her lap, her thoughts on the strange boy who had fought by her side and of his life till this point. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand as she looked out the window, the rain falling on the glass. He had looked so worn and forlorn in that tattered cloak of his as he had waved her off. Juvia straightened up, that was it.

"Driver" she said into the speaking tube "take me to the market."

She would have a wonderful surprise waiting for Hadrian later.

xx

Hadrian walked into his house and dropped his stuff with a sigh. It was good to be back.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Hadrian nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected question. It didn't take long for Hadrian to find Gajeel reclining in one of the chairs in the corner.

"The fuck Gajeel, you trying to have me die of a heart attack?"

Gajeel got up, the chair he was in clattering back onto its legs. He leaned over Hadrian with a smirk.

"No, but it sure was funny."

"What do you want Gajeel?" Hadrian deadpanned

Gajeel slapped Hadrian, none to gently on the back "I just wanted to take my good buddy out on a job. I had it all picked out for when I got back from my other one, but I got back and you had run off with Juvia."

Hadrian couldn't help himself "What, you jealous Gajeel?"

Gajeel just glared "I ain't jealous of you twerp. I was just disappointed, I go through all this work to find a nice job to help in your training and you had run of with someone else. Hurt my feelings."

Hadrian punched Gajeel lightly in the shoulder "You don't have feelings hard ass."

Gajeel tapped his chin with his index finger "Oh ya, always forget that."

Hadrian rolled his eyes "What's the job Gajeel?"

"Simple, there's a bunch of bandits making a nuisance of themselves in a mountain pass a few days from here, and we'll get paid some pretty nice cash to take them out."

"Don't bandits seem a bit low key for a wizard guild?"

Gajeel just shrugged "Apparently their leader's some kind of big tough guy or something, so the mercs are staying away, but who cares, you in?"

Hadrian grinned "Don't gotta ask me twice."

xx

"Sonova bitch Gajeel, couldn't you pony up for an actual carriage?" yelled Hadrian as he banged his head on the wall of the wagon, for the fifth time, as the wagon they were riding it hit yet one more pot hole.

"Oh quit your bitching, you've got a hard head anyway, you'll be fine."

"Juvia took me in a nice carriage when we went on a job." muttered Hadrian.

"Ya? Well she also makes it rain and she has more money than me, so suck it up fairy boy."

"Rivet face."

"Pixie."

"Scrap muncher"

Before it could escalate any more the wagon came to a stop. "Alright boys, this is as close as I can get ya. Just head straight up that road there and I'm sure you'll run into those bandits your looking for."

"Thanks" said Gajeel as he paid the driver and jumped off the back landing next to Hadrian. "You ready?"

"I will be if I don't have brain damage from that cart." complained Hadrian as he rubbed the back of his head.

Gajeel just shook his head "Quit whining and be a man, we got bandits to beat up." With that he headed up the road and towards the mountains, with Hadrian on his heels muttering complaints the whole time.

xx

After about an hour of walking the wind shifted and Gajeel put his hand out, stopping Hadrian as he looked around.

"What is it Gajeel?"

"I smell someone up ahead, and judging by how bad they smell, I'd say they're our bandits."

Hadrian raised an eyebrow "You can smell them?"

"Ya, it's a dragonslayer thing, now shut your yap and look oblivious." Gajeel growled as he resumed walking down the road. Hadrian stared after him for a moment before he realized that Gajeel wasn't gonna wait for him.

"So, what's the plan?" Hadrian asked as he caught up with Gajeel

"We walk straight up to their ambush like we're oblivious, and then beat the crap out of them." Gajeel muttered out the side of his mouth "Now shut up."

Hadrian snapped his mouth shut and tried to look oblivious. Which is a lot harder than he thought it would be. He was used to looking around constantly and just staring a little ways in front of him was driving him nuts. How did people do this all the time? Thankfully he didn't have to do it for long. He heard some rustling of leaves and, as he turned, he saw some dozen bandits clamber out of the undergrowth at the side of the road and surrounded them. The lead one leveled a sword at them.

"Your money or your life."

 **Chapter 15: Mountain Bandits**

Hadrian just couldn't help himself "That's gonna be pretty tough, as he's broke." He said as he cocked his thumb at Gajeel "I mean did you see the wagon we came in?"

"Oh so I'm poor now am I?" Gajeel yelled "If you wanted a damn carriage so bad you could have hired one yourself!"

"What kind of cheap ass expects a kid to hire a carriage?"

"Oh well excuse me, I thought you weren't a kid cuz you where twelve!"

"I'm a kid when it's convenient scrap muncher!"

"Dwarf!"

"Rust bucket!"

"Um, guys, we're robbing you." The bandit said, almost apologetically. Gajeel nailed him in the face with his Iron Dragon Club without looking.

"I am trying to have a conversation over here! Oh, guess he's already out." He said as he turned and saw the man spread eagled in the road, apparently unconscious. The bandits stared, flabbergasted for a few seconds, before one of the started shouting.

"Get the dirty wizards!"

"Well, guess it's time for some fun." Hadrian and Gajeel said in unison. The two looked at each other "Stop copying me!" once more in unison.

There wasn't time for them to keep yelling at each other as the bandits where already on them. Gajeel dove right in throwing kicks and punches in every direction, not even bothering to use his magic. Hadrian meanwhile was taking full advantage of his, skating circles around the bandits while he lashed out with his sword. However these bandits had more courage than brains and they just kept coming. Gajeel would knock one away and another would just clamp onto him.

"Get offa me!" He yelled as he dislodged one particularly stubborn bandit who had been clinging to his back by hurling him into the ditch

Hadrian smirked at him "Having problems? Oh shit!" He narrowly avoided a sword aimed at his head by leaping over it. He pivoted on his landing and sent the attacker sprawling with a swift kick in his ass. He didn't have time for more snarky comments, as three bandits charged him with swords. The swordsmanship was atrocious, but they made up for it with numbers and a bit of dumb luck. Hadrian gained some distance by back flipping a few times and shifted into his Autumn Court.

"You guys don't look frightened enough, Fairy Fog!"

Hadrian threw his hands forward and created the magic circles right above the bandit's heads, pouring the fear inducing fog right on top of them. A few seconds later, they came stumbling out, looking a bit shaken and Hadrian pressed his advantage. He summoned up his Will O' Wisps and started throwing them at the bandits as fast as he could. His first one connected with the guys face and sent him to the ground, but the others weren't so lucky. They got pelted with dozens of flaming blue skulls and one collapsed, the damage finally overwhelming him, the other simply fell over and started screaming while curled into the fetal position.

The bandits fighting Gajeel turned at the scream and let out a yell of their own when they saw what had happened. Gajeel just grinned and jumped out of their circle taking a deep breath as he did.

"Iron Dragon Roar!" A vortex of grey and black shot out of his mouth and impacted right where in the center of the bandits. The resulting explosion sent them all hurtling through the air. A few crashed into trees on the way down, but most just crashed to the ground and laid there.

Hadrian looked around "Did we get them all?" Gajeel wiped some dirt from his coat as he looked over the carnage

"I think so." Gajeel cocked his head and started sniffing. "Scratch that, we got a runner."

With that he took off at a dead sprint down the road. It took Hadrian a second to react, but after that he was right behind Gajeel. It didn't take long for them to spot their quarry. He was a thin, disheveled, bald man with goggles who was in desperate need of a bath. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened.

"Get over here you lousy rat!"

Instead of slowing him, the shout from Gajeel made him go faster, and boy was this guy fast. Hadrian activated his Fairy Dance and started to pull ahead of Gajeel. The bandit glanced over his shoulder and let out what Hadrian swore was a squeak before really laying on the speed.

"Just how fast is this guy?" Hadrian asked himself. "I doubt he can outrun a Will O Wisp!" The first one went high over the guy's shoulder and the next few went wide as well. Hadrian growled in frustration as he kept up the attack, firing a salvo of flaming skulls at the guy, and each one inexplicable missing.

"What the hell pixie? Can't you even hit one moron?"

"I'm trying! I don't know what the hell's going on."

"Hahaha nobody can stop Lucky Dash!" cackled the bandit as he sped away from the two wizards. "You two are gonna be sorry, Thag is gonna rip your fucking heads off! Ahahahaha!" With that he put on one more burst of speed and all that was left of Dash was his mad cackling resounding through the foothills. Hadrian slowed and eventually stopped, panting slightly.

"That guy had to have had some magic."

"Not disagreeing with you Gajeel, but whatever he was using was certainly strange."

"Huh, less concerned about him than this Thag guy, especially now because he knows we're coming."

Hadrian cocked an eyebrow "You're scared of this guy?"

"I ain't scared of nothing you little shit!" yelled Gajeel "I just heard he's a cut above your usual bandit and his group is bigger than most, and now that bastard knows we're coming. I was hoping to hit the bastard when he wasn't paying attention and teach you something about tactics in the bargain. I guess we're just gonna turn this into a lesson on blitzing the enemy."

"Alright, I guess he's easy enough to track, Fairy Eyes." Hadrian pressed two fingers to his eyes and when he removed them each one had a small magic circle overlaying it. "Well, we were right. He's definitely using magic, though I think its magical gear instead of any innate magic of his own."

Gajeel just shrugged "Not like that distinction matters much. Let's get a move on."

 **Chapter 16: Thag the Bandit King**

It didn't take the two wizards long to find Thag's base, the bandit leader was many things, but subtle wasn't one of them. He resided in the hollow underneath an overhang near the mountain pass, with a small fort build inside of it. His fort was little more than a palisade surrounding a ramshackle assortment of buildings, but it didn't need to be much more than that as the only way up was a natural stone ramp just wide enough to allow a wagon up. Gajeel started cracking his knuckles.

"Shall we knock?" Gajeel didn't wait for an answer. He took a deep breath and let out an Iron Dragon Roar, which obliterated the sad excuse for a gate.

"Remind me to install a door bell." said Hadrian as he walked up the ramp. "Honestly I figured we'd get ambushed while coming up the ramp, these guys are a joke." Hadrian stopped dead as he strode through the ruined gate.

"Or I'm jumping the gun…"

Behind a ramshackle barricade were almost two dozen bandits, each one pointing a rifle at the gate and behind them stood a very large and imposing man. He had an axe half as big as him resting on his right shoulder and his head was covered in a hood made from a stag head, complete with antlers, the rest of his clothes were made from the hides of at least half a dozen different animals. The man hefted his axe and pointed it at Hadrian.

"Kill this retch, fill him full of lead!"

With a yell Hadrian dove behind some of the gate rubble as a hail of bullets passed through the space he was just occupying. He poked his head out, only to have to duck again as more bullets buried themselves into the wood.

"Who the hell is making all that racket?" Gajeel strode through the ruins of the gate, bullets bouncing off of him. Hadrian had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Gajeel's skin appeared to be made of iron scales and the bullets where just pinging off him. With a sneer Gajeel cocked his arm back and it morphed into a giant club.

"Time to get rid of the rabble, Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel punched towards the barricade, his arm extending and ripping through the barricade as if it were nothing. He didn't stop there; he swept his arm to the right and crushed that half of the barricade and sending the bandits flying. With a loud bellow, Thag, for who else could he be, charged towards Gajeel his axe raised.

"I'll destroy you for that you bastard!" Thag came at Gajeel with an overhand strike, which Gajeel blocked, though the blow slid him back. Thag kept up the assault, continually swinging at Gajeel, keeping up the momentum, while Gajeel kept parrying the axe blade with his forearms. Thag went for another downward chop, but Gajeel redirected it with the back of his hand and rammed his fist into Thag's gut sending him flying back and into a building, Gajeel charging after him. Hadrian shook himself out of his daze and gestured towards the remaining bandits.

"Fairy Fog!" The familiar magic circles appeared above the bandits and began pouring fog out of them as Hadrian charged, shifting into Summer Court partway through the charge. The young boy slammed into the disordered bandits like a bull into a rotten fence. As he planted his fist into a bandit's gut he glanced at the rather large hole Gajeel had made in a building.

"Hope that idiot doesn't get himself hurt."

xx

Gajeel was having a blast, this Thag guy was just tough enough to be dangerous without being so strong that Gajeel had to take it seriously. He ducked a horizontal swing and unleashed a barrage of punches at Thag, who blocked the majority of them with the haft of his axe, the rest got through, though his hides seemed to double as cheap armor.

"I'm going to kill you, you sonova bitch!" screamed Thag as he started up another series of attacks. The guy was fast with that axe and the more he swung the faster he seemed to get. The answer why was pretty simple, Thag attacked in a simple figure eight pattern which allowed him to keep his momentum going, but it made him very predictable, and that predictability is why Gajeel was able to nail him in the gut with an Iron Dragon Club.

The attack sent Thag flying out the back wall of the building, and sadly also collapsed the thing onto Gajeel himself. It wasn't anything more than a minor inconvenience and Gajeel had freed himself in a matter of seconds, but that was long enough for Thag to have pulled a small metal vial from somewhere and pulled the cork off of it.

"This is where you die Guild Wizard!" With that Thag dumped the strange black liquid into his open mouth and threw the empty vial. It didn't take long for whatever that was to take effect. Thag screamed as his muscles started to expand, shredding his shirt. In a matter of seconds his already muscular frame had nearly doubled in size, his frame now rippling with bulging muscles. Thag clenched his fist experimentally and casually twirled his axe.

"Round 2." Thag leaped at Gajeel and slammed his axe into Gajeel's side sending him crashing through several shacks. Thag slowly strode towards Gajeel, still spinning his axe in his hand. Gajeel picked himself up off the ground and launched himself at Thag.

"Iron Dragon Sword!"

Gajeel felt the familiar vibration of his arm blade's teeth spinning up as he started his attack on Thag. Thag intercepted the first strike with his axe haft and nudged the blade to the side, Gajeels next thrust he also batted away, but followed up with a haft strike to Gajeels face. The haft did little more than knock his head to the side as it bounced off his Iron Scales, but it did screw up his aim and so his next attack was sloppy. Which is probably why Thag was able to turn it away with his axe head and then firmly plant his foot into Gajeels gut sending him sprawling. Thag stood over Gajeel, his axe raised and his muscles bulging even more obscenely.

"Let's see if those scales protect you now!" Thag started to bring down his axe on the dazed Gajeel when a blue fireball nailed him in the side of the head, knocking him off balance and causing his strike to go wide. Gajeel turned towards the source of the attack and saw Hadrian standing atop a shack another fireball in his hand.

"I'll fucking kill you, you little pest!"

"Hey buddy, your fights with me, remember?"

Thag turned back towards Gajeel just in time to get an Iron Dragon Cub in the face. The attack took him clear off his feet and sent him flying into yet another shack. After the dust settled, Thag was laying the rubble, unconscious and returned to his normal form. Gajeel picked himself up and dusted himself off as Hadrian walked up to him.

"You're welcome."

Gajeel sneered "I didn't need your help. I had him right where I wanted him."

Hadrian rolled his eyes "Well forgive me. I didn't realize that laying on the ground with the other guy standing over you with an axe was 'right where you wanted him.' Next time it happens I'll be sure to just leave you there."

Gajeel rolled his eyes as he walked over to Thag and nudged him with his boot.

"Is he dead?"

Gajeel cocked his head "No, just unconscious, though he may still kick it, especially with that junk he drank."

"Is that why he got so big?"

Gajeel nodded, "Yup, drank some sort of weird potion and he swelled up. Probably got it from some black market wizard, doubt the stuff is legal, or even safe. Anyway, we're done here, let's pile them up, tie them down and let the Rune Knights deal with them."

xx

A ways off, a bald disheveled man watched the two guild wizards round up his former comrades. He slid the magical goggles onto his forehead.

"The boss ain't gonna like this."

xx

Hadrian and Gajeel got back to Oak Town a few days later, Gajeel leaving again almost immediately. Hadrian decided to take a few days off, as he was set for money, and went to go hang out at the guild. Ritchie waved him over when he walked in.

"Hey Hadrian, I got a package for you."

"Who's sending me a package?"

"I don't know, it was sitting on the bar last night and it's addressed to you." Ritchie handed him a simple package wrapped in brown paper and tied shut with a string. Hadrian wasted no time and tore it open to reveal a beautiful dark blue long coat complete with hood. On top of the coat was a small note, which read:

"To Hadrian, I noticed that your cloak is looking a little out of date, and seeing as how you helped me out earlier I thought it only fair to help you. May this coat keep the rain off of you. From Big Sis Juvia."

Hadrian was trying, and failing not to blush, and before anyone could make him read the note out loud he stuffed it into his pocket and tried the coat on.

"Wow, nice coat there, though it looks a bit big on you." It was true, the coat's sleeves went right over Hadrian's hands and it dragged on the floor. Hadrian looked down at himself.

"Ya, it's way too big."

Almost as if the coat had been waiting for those words it glowed slightly and started to shrink. After a few moments it had shrunk to the perfect size for Hadrian.

"Wow man, someone really likes you. Magical coats like that aren't cheap."

"Ya, I guess so" he said, mostly to himself as he looked down at his brand new coat.

"I guess she really does care."


	5. Chapter 5

Author Notes: Here the next installment and I'm only 2 months late! Sorry about that.

 **Chapter 17: Dark Arcana**

Dash's boots made a rhythmic thudding as he hurried across the dock to the large, dark and imposing warehouse at the end of the docks at Yamamoto. He wrung his hands as he approached the small side door, quickly wiping them on his grimy pants to try and dry off the sweat that had covered them. He quickly looked around him, confirming that there were no dock workers or officials nearby. When he saw he was clear, he pulled up his left sleeve and placed his index and middle finger onto a tattoo of a key on the inside of his forearm.

A slight glow of green light later and Dash was holding a jade key that he quickly slid into the lock on the door. A slight shimmer fell over the door and when it ended a coat of arms had appeared on the center: a gold chalice overflowing with coins and backed by a crossed sword and staff. Dash gulped once and quickly opened the door, remembering to remove the key as he entered. On the outside, once the door closed, the coat of arms disappeared and the door took on its normal, weathered appearance.

Dash paused just on the other side of the door and took a deep breath to calm himself. Looking around as he did, he took in just how opulent the building he now found himself in was. The entire place was made of marble, with columns holding up the high ceiling every ten feet or so and a wide red velvet carpet ran down the center walkway. Dash stopped wasting time and headed down the torch lit hallway.

After a short walk that felt like an eternity, Dash found himself before an open set of massive double doors, which were covered in intricate carvings of people dying in various horrible ways. He nervously walked through the door and tried not to look at the torch sconces, which, in this section, where statues of people twisted into grotesque poses with the flames coming from their mouths and eyes.

"Hello Dash."

It took every ounce of willpower in Dash's body not to leap out of his skin. He turned around and was face to mask with his boss, his orange eyes peering at Dash through the eye holes of his porcelain mask. The white mask had gold filigree around the small red, flame like shapes around his eyes. The most disturbing part about the mask, for Dash anyway, was the fact that it had no mouth, which made his boss' smooth and often droll voice even more unnerving.

"H-hey there boss." He put his hand on Dash's shoulder.

"You look nervous Dash, why don't you sit down, and you can tell me how Thag is doing." He motioned to a pair of plush armchairs by a fireplace at the side of the hall, the claws on his gauntlets taking on a blood red hue from the reflected firelight.

Dash nodded and quickly seated himself across from his boss, who leaned back, crossed his legs and rested his intertwined, gauntleted hands on his stomach. Dash took a good look at his boss in the flickering light. Besides his mask, his head was always covered by his blood red hood which was attached to a mantle and matched his tunic. He had a dark gray breastplate he wore over his tunic with a matching set of full leg greaves. His gauntlets, which where clawed, went under his tunic sleeves.

"Have some tea Dash" he motioned to a tea set, that Dash was pretty certain wasn't there several seconds ago. Dash took a cup anyway.

"So, how did the tests with Thag go?"

"Uh, well," started Dash "they started out well. I mean, he got strong enough to flip a loaded cart, and he threw a man into a tree."

"That doesn't sound all that impressive…"

"I mean he threw the man _into_ a tree, as in the man got stuck in it like a dart." Dash quickly explained.

"Ah, that sounds much better Dash. Now tell me, what went wrong?"

Dash flinched; of course he knew something had gone wrong.

"Well, things were going well. Thag and his boys had raided a few caravans, caused some trouble, but then these Phantom Lord wizards showed up. They did a number on Thag's boys, and well," Dash took a deep breath "they beat Thag. He knocked one around a bit first, but he went down when the other actually tried."

"Hmmm, interesting, though not overly surprising, you wouldn't happen to know who the wizard was do you?"

"Uh, ya boss. He's called Black Steel Gajeel, he had some punk kid with him too."

"Thank you Dash. I want you to go and prepare for the next phase of our plan."

"Yes Boss, right away." Dash nearly tripped over himself as he left; the relief evident on his face.

Seconds after Dash left, a woman appeared in the chair Dash had just vacated. She was wearing a tight, curve hugging, strapless dark purple dress that left very little to the imagination. Her golden hair was straight and hung just below her shoulders, the upper half of her lovely face was covered by a purple masquerade mask, and her arms were covered in long purple satin gloves. A golden chalice hung from her hip.

"Are you sure that is wise Jack? I mean, the potion clearly didn't work."

"And what makes you say that Queen of Cups? Thag was nothing more than a brute, and with the Essence he was able to, at least temporarily, fight Black Steel Gajeel. I'd say that sounds like a successful test to me."

"And why didn't you kill Dash? He clearly ran and hid like a coward." The woman asked as she took a sip from her golden chalice.

"And that, dear Queen is the difference between you and I. You would kill him for his cowardice, but I will use it. You see, I never expected Dash to fight alongside Thag, I just wanted information, and that is what he has given me." Jack stood up "Now, I have work to do, why don't you go play with one of your toys?"

Queen stood up with a seductive grin on her face.

"I think I just may. Do be careful, Jack of Blades, I'm not sure what I'd do without you." She laughed as she disappeared. Jack got up from his chair and walked to a door that had just appeared in the wall. He stopped just before opening it and gently stroked the right side of his mask with his middle finger.

"Soon, soon I will have what I've worked so hard for."

With that, he opened the door and strode out into the night.

 **Chapter 18: Graveyard Shift**

The sun shown down on the backyard of the Phantom Lord Guidhall in Oak Town, and on Hadrian as he practiced his sword forms with a weighted practice sword he had cobbled together. He had worked up a fair sweat by the time Ritchie walked into the backyard. He took a seat on a chopping log and tossed Hadrian a small towel when he stopped practicing.

"Hey Hadrian, got a minute?"

"Sure Ritchie, whatcha need?"

"I need a favor." he said as he leaned back and crossed his arms. "You see, I got a friend who is the curator of a museum in Borwatt town, and they just got this rare rock or something. Apparently, the person they got it from is convinced that a Dark Guild is going to come and steal it and they want someone to play night guard until they can get someone more permanent."

"So why don' they just post a job?" Hadrian asked as he mopped the sweat off his face.

"They did, except the museum is a bit on the poorer side and so they can't really attract anyone. Now, I happen to know that you are fine financially, and you're a swell guy, so I figured you'd do me a solid."

Hadrian set the towel on a log and stroked his chin like he was deep in thought.

"I don't know Ritchie. I had this thing going on, and…."

"Oh come on man! You're the only one around here who I figured would help me."

"I'm screwing with you Ritchie." Hadrian laughed "I'll help you out, but I want a week of free meals out of this."

Ritchie just shook his head in exasperation as he stood up.

"Fine you little shit, but that mischievous streak is gonna get you in trouble some day." he said as he ruffled Hadrian's hair.

"Fine with me, it would mean that Gajeel hadn't killed me yet. So who's this friend of yours I'm supposed to meet?"

"Her name is Carol. Come on in and I'll get you her address."

xx

Two days later, Hadrian found himself on a hill just outside of Borwatt town. It was far larger than Oak Town and the whole place was made out of the same simple, and rather boring, grey stone. There was little traffic going in or out of town as Hadrian made his way down the hill and into the town proper and so the sight of a person walking down the road, carrying what looked like a giant horn, or maybe a giant fang, kinda stood out. Hadrian moved over as the person approached, and as they got closer, he noticed that it was a young, red haired woman wearing a breastplate and a blue skirt. Hadrian stopped and watched as she passed, the woman giving him a small nod in passing.

 _She must be one hell of a wizard to take on something that had that attached to it, wonder what Guild she's from?_ He thought to himself. He shook his head as he started walking again. _Doesn't matter, I got a job to go do._

Hadrian continued on his way into Borwatt, and the Wizard continued on her way, back to Magnolia.

Hadrian double checked the piece of paper Ritchie had given him. Yes, the long, low and kind of drab building in front of him was the Borwatt Museum of History. He stuffed the paper back into his pants pocket before walking in through the large double doors.

The lobby was fairly typical for a museum, or at least Hadrian assumed it was, as he hadn't exactly spent much time in museums, with some benches along the wall and an information desk in the center of the room. The floor was simple white tiles and the walls where a clean whitewash with a few paintings hanging on them. The only person inside was a young, bookish looking woman sitting behind the desk.

"Excuse me." said Hadrian, approaching the desk. "But I'm here to see Carol." The young woman looked up from whatever she had been working on and peered at Hadrian over the desk, and her glasses.

"I'm Carol, and if you want to go through the museum young man, you will need your parents." Hadrian rolled his eyes as he pulled out the Wanted poster from his coat pocket and slid the sleeve of his coat up his arm revealing his Guild Mark.

"I'm here because Ritchie asked me to lend you a hand." he said, sliding the wanted poster across the desk. "But if you don't want it…"

"My Ritchie sent you? Well that's different then" she said as she gave an appraising gaze to Hadrian's Guild Mark. "Come, I'll show you around."

She motioned for Hadrian to follow her as she left the confines of the information desk. Carol was short, and wore a rather unflattering, frumpy looking brown sweater and a white floor length skirt. Really the woman looked like she belonged in a library instead of a museum, and she dressed like an old lady, at least according to Hadrian's fashion sense.

She took him through the museum, which was quite nice, though Hadrian found it a tad boring. After what felt like hours, but was realistically only minutes, of being led through rooms filled with armor, paintings, statues and dozens and dozens of broken pots, Carol stopped in front of a large, black stone slab.

"This is called the Blood Stone, and this is what you are here to guard."

"A giant black rock?" he asked as his eyebrow rose.

"Yes, but the Blood Stone isn't just a slab of rock. This stone is quite old, one could say ancient, and in times long past, the people who constructed it would sacrifice people upon it." Hadrian's jaw nearly hit the floor at that, though Carol continued on, oblivious. "They would take captives they got from raids and cut out their hearts. Then, after enough sacrifices had been amassed, they would kill their fiercest warrior upon this stone."

"That seems rather stupid."

"Well it would be, if that warrior didn't come back to life, and stronger than before."

Now Hadrian just looked incredulous.

"There is no magic that can bring someone back from the dead."

"That is the conventional wisdom, but I believe that they never really died when they were sacrificed on the altar. The accumulated magic of all the sacrifices keeps them alive and fuels whatever transformation is supposed to occur."

"Huh. So you want me to watch guard just in case some Dark Guild Wizards or something gets it in their heads to come and take it?"

"That's pretty much it. I'll finish the tour and then show you how to lock up."

xx

Hadrian was bored. No, he was past bored, he was super bored. No, he was _dying_ of boredom. _Can i die of boredom?_ Hadrian wasn't sure, but according to his 12 year old mind, it was entirely possible, even likely, and so he had to occupy himself while sitting next to a giant murder rock. Which was why he was in his Autumn Court form and had spent the last two hours trying to make shapes with his Fairy Fog. He had been reasonably successful, all things considered. He had gotten something that was vaguely snowman shaped to last for about a minute before a draft had blown it apart. He was currently trying to make a cat, with very little success, when he heard a loud bang from somewhere else inside the building. Hadrian nearly jumped out of his skin, he leapt up so fast.

Fearing a break in, he shifted into his Winter Court and started to sneak towards where he thought the sound had came from. Upon rounding a corner into a hallway that ran the length of the building, he noticed that it was raining outside. He let out a sigh of relief. _Probably just a shitty window that blew open, should probably find it quick before too much water gets in._ Before he could continue down the hallway, he heard a muttered curse.

Without thinking Hadrian dove under the window to his left and flattened himself against the wall under it. A flash of lightening illuminated the hall enough for him to see three men dripping in the hallway on the far end and a fourth, presumably the one who cursed, was half hanging out an open window. The brief flash was enough that Hadrian could tell they all had swords and that they looked like a bunch of experienced thugs.

"Shadows Embrace" Hadrian muttered. The shadows near Hadrian shifted ever so slightly casting him in deeper darkness. He summoned his Winter Dagger as he started to creep towards the thugs. He stopped halfway down the hall as the man stuck partway in the window was unceremoniously shoved headfirst across the hallway by the man climbing through the window after him. He was tall, lean, wearing a hood and had greaves and gauntlets. A flash of lightning revealed that his face was covered by a white mask and that he had a clear fondness for the color red. The masked man turned towards the main room that contained the Blood Stone.

"The stone is in there, be careful with it."

The thugs nodded to their leader, the one who had been kicked inside got up rubbing the back of his head, and they all, attempted, to sneak towards the main room. Hadrian shifted his grip and his Dagger as he silently activated his Fairy Dance spell, and before the thugs could get more than a few steps he shot out of his hiding place, hurling his Dagger at the first thug. The blade sunk into the man's leg, and before he could so much as scream, he was encased in a Rime Prison and Hadrian had moved off around the corner, the thugs charging after him.

Hadrian moved through the museum quickly and quietly, still wrapped in his Shadow's Embrace spell, he was near impossible to pick out in the dark, meanwhile, the thugs where loud, angry, and a bit clumsy as they charged around the floor looking for the boy. Hadrian hid himself behind a pillar on the other side of the room as the thugs started to fan out. He chanced a quick glance around the corner and saw that the three thugs were spreading out through the room, and just when he was going to bless his good fortune that none of them had torches, a light started spreading out from the center of the room. The center thug had released a small crystal that glowed and floated around his head, and it was about as bright as a lantern, but cast a much harsher light.

Hadrian ducked behind the pillar and took a deep breath to ready himself for the charge. Just as he was about to turn around the pillar to charge the thug's right flank, he was hurled across the room. Hadrian rolled when he landed and came up on his feet facing his attacker, a large, burly man with a vacant look in his eyes, and standing next to him, a woman in a form fitting purple dress. The woman looked at him over the golden chalice she seemed to be drinking from.

"Now now boy, dear Jack can't have you interrupting his plans, and besides, hired muscle is expensive." she casts a meaningful look at the hulking man beside her "Well, it is for Jack anyway."

"What are you doing here?"

Hadrian and the woman both turned at the new voice that came from the man in red, who Hadrian took to be Jack. The woman laughed, as Hadrian couldn't really call what she did a giggle.

"Isn't it obvious Jack? I'm making sure your plan goes off without so much as a hitch. Besides," she turned back to Hadrian "I'm overdue for some fun."

"Fine" Jack growled "Just don't make him one of your pets. We don't need his Guild coming after him."

Hadrian didn't like the sound of that, and he liked the look of these two even less. He switched over to Summer Court and leveled his blade at the woman.

"I am Hadrian of Phantom Lord, and I am not gonna let you and your goons get your hands on the Blood Stone!"

"Oh you silly little boy" laughed the woman "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Boulder, crush him for me."

 **Chapter 19: Hail to the Queen**

Boulder loosed an inarticulate roar of pure hatred as he charged. Hadrian gathered some magic into his left hand, and threw it into Boulder's face, just as he got close.

"Fairy Flash!"

Before the light could even fully fade Hadrian had leapt high above Boulder's head and he brought his sword down in an overhead chop, which was blocked by Boulder's massive forearm. Before Hadrian could fully understand what had happened Boulder had swatted him across the room again. As he rolled to his feet he saw that Boulder was bleeding from a cut on his arm.

"What the hell is going on here?" yelled Hadrian. The woman simply chuckled

"My dear plaything, Boulder is blind, and completely loyal to me. He feels only what I tell him to feel and does only what I tell him to do. He is a wonderful fighting machine. Now Boulder, smash this brat!"

Boulder charged at Hadrian again, like nothing more than a wild animal. Hadrian dove and rolled out of the way, only to have to roll again to dodge Boulder's follow up charge. Every time Hadrian would dodge, Boulder would be right there behind him, desperately trying to smash him. This may have continued indefinitely, except Hadrian tripped on a helmet from some fallen suit of armor and Boulder caught him in the chest with his massive fist, sending the boy hurtling out the window and into the muddy backyard.

Hadrian picked himself up from the mud puddle he had landed in and wiped the mud off of his face. He looked at the museum through the rain and he could see Boulder starting to climb out the window. He shifted to Autumn Court and summoned his Will O' Wisps and started hurling them at Boulder. By the time Boulder had gotten out the window and onto the ground he had been hit easily over a dozen times and Hadrian could tell his magic had done something, but it didn't seem to stop him from charging right for Hadrian the moment he hit the ground.

Hadrian dodge rolled, shifting into his Winter Court as he slid across the muddy yard. Out here he had an advantage, as he could take full advantage of the speed that Fairy Dance gave him. Taking advantage of his new-found mobility Hadrian started skating around Boulder, deftly maneuvering around the less agile brute. Every time Hadrian passed him, he would make a small slash with his Winter Dagger, leaving a line of frost behind on his skin. It wasn't much, but after a couple of passes the effects were starting to show, Boulder was slowing down and starting to shake with cold.

After another pass Hadrian spun and hurled his knife into Boulder's back. The Rime Prison encased the giant in seconds and Hadrian ended it by drop kicking him in the back, causing the now ice coated giant to drop to the ground. Hadrian turned to go after the woman next but he was forced to duck as another man tried to take his head off with a vicious roundhouse kick.

"Just how many nutjobs are there?"

"Oh I have quite the entourage boy. Since dear Boulder wasn't enough to deal with you I decided to bring in some more reinforcements." The woman was now lounging on a chaise lounge that had come from somewhere and was out of the rain as four men where holding up a small pavilion roof as a pair of shirtless men held a lantern and a platter of grapes, respectively, for her. The man who had tried to kick Hadrian was also shirtless, but was otherwise dressed like a martial artist.

"Is this a game to you?"

The woman cocked her head and put a finger to her pouted lips.

"Why yes, I would say it is. Oh, Fist? Be a good boy and make this fight entertaining for me."

Fist turned and bowed to his mistress before taking up a fighting stance against Hadrian who shifted back into Summer Court and took up his own stance. This wasn't going well, he was wet, exhausted, and it looked like he would have to fight a literal horde of men. Unless he did something crazy of course. Pivoting on his heel he called forth a Magic Circle and plunged his sword through it, firing a Sunflower straight at the woman. Before it could connect her servants dove in front of her taking the blast instead and Hadrian felt something collide with his side, shatter his Fairy Shield and send him hurtling into the backyard's wall.

"Very clever boy" The playfulness was gone and she said it with venom. She walked across the yard, a servant holding an umbrella as she approached the man who had nailed Hadrian. He was huge, even bigger than Boulder, and covered in golden armor. The sword he was wielding was twice Hadrian's size and his shield was the size of a large door. The woman patted him affectionately.

"Good job Thunder, you may go now. Fist will deal with this pest." The giant bowed his head and then turned and walked through a door that had appeared in the middle of the yard. Fist approached Hadrian and picked him up by his shirt collar. He couldn't fight back, he was fairly certain he had broken something when Thunder had smashed him into the wall and now he couldn't summon forth the strength to fight back. He couldn't even think of a smartass thing to say, it was a shame really.

"Now, die boy"

Before Fist could do anything, a jet of water smashed into the woman and her servant and sent them sliding across the mud of the backyard. Hadrian and Fist turned and saw Juvia Lockser standing in the rain, her pink parasol in her left hand, her right hand extended towards the, now mud smeared, woman. Hadrian noticed what looked like a picnic basket at her feet, spilled in the mud. Then he noticed her eyes, and he shivered, for in her eyes he saw anger to rival that of hell itself.

"Stay in the mud where you belong, bitch. Drip, drip, drop." the last words were said slowly and with finality as Juvia folded her parasol and stuck it tip first in the mud.

 **Chapter 20: The Great Sea Boils**

The woman picked herself up slowly, mud dripping off her ruined dress. She stood up straight and then turned slowly toward Juvia, and Hadrian shivered again, for in her eyes he saw unending madness. Fist dropped him and turned towards Juvia, who seemed oblivious to the new threat. Hadrian was still too banged up to do anything other than lay there and watch.

"Just who do think you are you _upstart whore?!"_ shrieked the woman.

"I am Juvia of the Great Sea, of Phantom Lord's Element Four, and you have harmed someone who means a great deal to me. I will not let that stand."

The woman's answer was a mad cackle.

"Fist, kill this little bitch!"

Before Fist could even move, Juvia had her Water Whip around him. She swung him around her head once and then slammed him into the mud at the woman's feet. He didn't get up. Juvia began to slowly advance towards the woman, the rage never dimming in her eyes. The woman backed up a step and then spread her arms wide.

"Queen's Gate!"

A massive castle gate appeared behind the woman, and as the doors opened Hadrian could see dozens of men all jostling to get through and unlike Boulder, Fist and the servants, all of these men where armed and armored.

"Go my Guard! Bring her head to your beloved Queen!"

With a resounding cry the men all charged from the Gate, weapons held high and out for blood. Juvia stood still her left arm stretched out front and her right stretched behind, unperturbed by the onrushing mass of armor and weapons. Just before the men reached her, she spun like a dancer, her body turning into a cyclone of whirling water blades.

"Water Jigsaw"

Juvia then shot forward, smashing through the men like a hurricane through a forest, sending men and weapons flying in every direction. She stopped spinning once she got to the center of the horde and extended her arm out in her Water Whip. She spun again, and once more sent men flying, before she made a full rotation she jumped and twisted, causing her Whip, and all the men stuck on it, to slam into the ground with a resounding crash. Upon landing she didn't miss a beat, with a scream Juvia wrenched her arm up and created a massive Water Lock out of all of the mud and rain in the backyard, entrapping dozens of men inside.

As Juvia turned to face the woman again, a giant golden sword cleaved her in half. Thunder was once more standing on the field of battle. Juvia gave no reaction to the sword as her body flowed back together, she wasn't here for this fool, she was here to destroy the woman who had been so cruel to Hadrian. She would show her what cruelty was. Juvia extended her hand towards Thunder.

"Water Nebula"

The twin jets of water hurled Thunder back, but he had gotten his shield up in time. He charged Juvia, once more trying to cut her in half, and once again Juvia didn't care. Again and again Thunder would cut at her, and time and again Juvia would blast him back, having taken no damage and while Thunder wasn't taking much damage, it was clear Juvia would win this war of attrition.

"Thunder, grab the brat!"

Thunder turned rapidly and charged for Hadrian, who had just picked himself off the ground and was leaning heavily on the back wall. The only thing that saved him was a blast of water from Juvia, which sidelined Thunder and sent him sprawling. Thunder was quickly on his feet again, but Juvia was already on him. She transformed her arm into her Water Jigsaw and started to drill trough Thunder's shield, but before she could make much headway Thunder's sword started to glow and Juvia jumped back just before Thunder took a swing at her. An arc of lightning erupted from the sword and shot through where Juvia had just been standing.

Juvia slid backwards in the mud coming to a stop just as Thunder picked himself up off the ground. He lifted his sword above his head, tip skyward, and he called down a massive bolt of lightning. Juvia threw up her hands and conjured a Water Dome before the bolt struck. Electricity arced down the dome and into the mud, leaving Juvia unharmed.

Juvia charged out of the dome and threw a wave of mud and water at Thunder, who hid once more behind his shield. Just as the wave hit him Juvia turned both her arms to Water Whips and snaked them around Thunder's ankles. With a great cry she dragged him off of his feet and started to spin, slowly lifting the armored giant off of the ground. Once she picked up enough speed Juvia released Thunder and sent him speeding towards his mistress, who sidestepped the impromptu missile. Thunder bounced off the ground once and then slammed into the back wall of the museum.

"Fine, I will skin that little bastard myself"

Suddenly the rain stopped and Juvia turned slowly towards the woman. Once her eyes locked onto the woman the rain started again, this time as a near solid sheet of water coming down.

"You will not touch one hair on his head. Drip, drip, drop."

"Try and stop me bitch."

Juvia turned her legs into a geyser of water and lifted herself off the ground, her arms turning into giant water blades. The woman held her cup like a sword and took up a fighting stance. Before either could do anything a wall of giant swords erupted from the ground cutting the two women off from one another and Jack appeared in the window.

"We are done her Queen. Grab what's left of your men and get out of here."

"You can't be serious! This bitch comes in here and levels my men and I'm supposed to just-"

"Now Queen!" boomed Jack. Queen seemed to shrink for a moment, but she quickly straightened and turned toward Juvia.

"Know that the Queen of Cups will be watching you, and I will have my revenge. Men, we are leaving!" With that she turned on her heel and most of her men picked themselves up from the mud and followed her through the Gate. Once they were gone Juvia rushed to Hadrian's side, dropped to her knees and hugged him.

"Oh Hadrian are you alright?"

"I wouldn't be if I suffocate from your hug."

Juvia immediately let go

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. Is anything else wrong?"

"Nothing that won't fix itself, oh and one more thing."

"Anything."

"Remind me not to piss you off"

Juvia ruffled Hadrian's wet hair as she smiled.

"Of course."


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the delay and the shortness of this chapter. Life got in the way. Hopefully things will speed up now.

 **Chapter 21: Rune Knights, Round 2**

Hadrian, freshly bandaged, was sitting on the steps at the front of the Museum the next morning enduring Juvia's continued ministrations. He had just finished facing Carol and her immense disappointment. Thankfully everything was insured, but seeing her face when she saw that the Blood Stone was gone had killed Hadrian. Thankfully Juvia had explained what had gone wrong, as he wasn't sure if he would have been able to say anything other than that he was sorry. Now he was just sitting on the steps waiting for the Rune Knights to show up to give them his statement, and trying not to explode at Juvia when she asked him for the seventh time if he was quite sure that he was alright.

"I just don't think you should be out here in the rain, it can't be good for you."

"For the seventh and hopefully last time Juvia, I am fine. I spent a few hours in my Fairy Circle and I'm pretty sure none of my ribs are broken, at least anymore. So stop being a mother hen."

Juvia turned and faced the street, lacing her fingers together, her parasol resting on her shoulder. After a few seconds she started tapping her thumbs together.

"I could go get a cushion for you…"

Hadrian buried his face in his hands and let out the most melodramatic sigh he could muster. If some enemy Wizard didn't kill him Juvia's constant mothering certainly would. Thankfully he was spared any more concern as a carriage escorted by several Rune Knights started to come up the street.

Hadrian heaved himself off of his step trying not to wince as he did so. All he needed was for Juvia to see that he was in the slightest bit of discomfort and she'd probably wrap him in half a dozen quilts and lock him in a room or something. Thankfully he was able to get to his feet without letting his pain show.

Juvia looked at Hadrian as he picked himself off the step. He tried to hide how much he hurt, but she could see him wince. She bit her lip and said nothing as she stood up. She knew that he would never admit to it and her pushing would just make him hide it more.

The carriage pulled up in front of the pair of wizards and a man with glasses and his hair tied up stepped out.

"I'd say it was a pleasure to see you both again, if it wasn't for the circumstances." Lahar said as he pushed up his glasses. A Rune Knight with a satchel stepped out of the carriage and handed Lahar a clipboard.

"I understand that there was a break-in and an assault." He said as he consulted the clipboard "I'm here to clarify several details, can we go inside?"

Hadrian pulled out the chair across from Lahar and sat down. They were in a small office towards the back of the museum and Lahar had just finished interviewing Carol.

"Alright Hadrian," said Lahar as he crossed his hands "I just want you to know that you aren't in trouble here. We just need to clarify your story. So, last night you were on guard duty at the museum, and while you were on duty you went to investigate a disturbance?"

Hadrian nodded.

"And that's when I saw those Dark Guild Wizards breaking into the place."

Another nod.

"And then you fought them?"

Hadrian nodded again.

"Shortly after that, a woman, presumably of the same Dark Guild, appeared and had a man named Boulder attack you. Eventually you were thrown out of the building, where you were finally able to defeat this Boulder. However, this woman simply called forth more men, from places unknown, and you were beaten."

"That's when Juvia showed up." Hadrian mumbled as he stared at the table. Lahar nodded and made a note on a piece of paper.

"Miss Lockser saved you, but before her and this other woman could come to blows, the apparent leader of the Dark Wizards intervened and called for a retreat, most likely because he had the Blood Stone. Now, Miss Lockser said, in her original message to us, that this woman created a massive gate that she called these men through, can you confirm that."

Hadrian nodded, "I was still conscious, I just couldn't do anything."

"And their leader, he created a wall of swords?"

Hadrian nodded once again.

"Thank you Hadrian, that's all I need from you."

xx

About a half an hour later Lahar was back in his carriage heading back to HQ. He stared pensively at the empty seat across from him, as he had sent the courier who had ridden with him ahead. The news couldn't wait for him. It was confirmed, Dark Arcana had the stone. He just had to hope that they weren't sure how to use it yet.

 **Chapter 22: Phantom Dragon**

Gajeel was having a good day. He had just come back from a job and was enjoying a cold beer at the Guild House while munching on a chunk of iron at his favorite spot in the Guild Hall, a table on the far side near the hearth. He was too busy munching on a particularly good piece of iron to notice that the bar had gotten quite. He only realized something was off when a shadow fell over his table. He turned to give the offender a piece of his mind but as he turned he froze. The man behind him was Master Jose. Seeing that Gajeel had finally noticed him, Master Jose motioned for Gajeel to follow him and turned to head upstairs.

Gajeel quickly downed what was left of his beer and followed his Master up to the second level and even further up to the top of the tower. At the top Jose walked over to the southern window that looked out over the lake, his hands behind his back.

"Gajeel, who is the strongest Guild in Fiora?"

"Phantom Lord, of course."

"Wrong. We are tied with Fairy Tail for that honor, and I can stand it no longer." Jose turned to face Gajeel with a massive smile on his face.

"I need you to do something for me."

"Anything Master."

"Go to Magnolia Town and wreck their Guild Hall. The only way to prove that Phantom Lord is the best is by beating those Fairies once and for all."

"And you're going to sucker them into turning it into a full Guild fight." Gajeel grinned "I can't wait."

"Oh, one more thing, there is a Wizard in Fairy Tail, one Lucy Hearfilia. You are not to lay a finger on her Gajeel. Apparently she's a runaway and dear daddy is willing to pay big money to anyone who will bring her home."

"Great, I'll smash their Guildhouse and bring her back without a scratch." Gajeel said as he cracked his knuckles.

"No you will not." said Jose as his smile vanished. "When Juvia gets back I will be sending her and Sol to get the Heartfilia girl. Your job is to get them angry enough to attack us. I'll deal with everything else."

"As you wish Master."

xx

Gajeel headed out of the Guildhouse, whistling happily as he headed towards the South Gate. He took a slight detour to head by Hadrian's place to see if he was back yet. Maybe he'd bring Hadrian along, let him join in the fun. A single raindrop stopped his whistling and he looked down the street to see Juvia saying goodbye to Hadrian just outside the warehouse where he stayed. Gajeel waited until Hadrian was inside before continuing into the increasing shower towards Juvia.

"Hey Juvia, when you get back I think the Master will want to have a word with you."

Juvia cocked her head slightly looking a bit confused.

"I'm surprised that the Master has heard about Borwatt already."

Now it was Gajeel's turn to be confused.

"What the hell are you talking about? He never mentioned Borwatt."

"Oh, in that case do you know what he wanted?"

Gajeel blinked a few times.

"Uh, ya, he said he had a job he wanted you to do."

"Thank you Gajeel." with that Juvia started heading towards the Guildhall.

"Hey!" Gajeel grabbed Juvia's arm "What the hell went down at Borwatt?"

Juvia slowly lifted Gajeels hand from her arm and looked at him over her shoulder.

"Hadrian was nearly killed by a Dark Guild who stole some sort of artifact. He was seriously injured, and even though I know he is recovered, I want him to rest. Do you understand Gajeel?" The last question was so cold that Gajeel thought he saw it snow for a second. Then he saw Juvia's eyes, and he knew that asking Hadrian to come along would be the stupidest thing he would ever do, if not his last. So he just nodded and Juvia turned back towards the Guildhouse and slowly walked away into the growing shower.

 **Chapter 23: The First Shot**

Gajeel made it to Magnolia early the next evening and headed straight for the Fairy Tail Guildhall. About a block away he ducked into an alley and, using the alley walls, jumped up onto the rooftops. From there he negotiated his way closer to the Guild. Unfortunately there were no buildings near the Hall and so the closest he could get was a building across the street.

While not close enough to launch an attack from, it was close enough to get an excellent view and the chimney on the roof gave Gajeel sufficient cover to not be noticed. He crouched down behind the chimney long enough to realize that most of the Fairies where in the Hall, so after a bit he stopped crouching and just took a seat with his back resting on the chimney.

xx

Drunken singing woke Gajeel up. He peered around his hiding place and saw two middle aged guys, one with black hair and stubble and the other with a brown pompadour, drunkenly weaving down the road and singing at the top of their lungs. A few seconds later Gajeel saw a few more people leave the Fairy Tail Guild.

A very unfriendly grin split his face as he stretched his cramping legs. It was show time.

Gajeel dropped stealthily to the ground and dashed across to the Fairy Tail yard, safely hidden in the bushes that surrounded the Hall. Once there Gajeel took a close up view of the Guildhall. It was a large multi story wooden structure, perfect for what he had in mind.

Gajeel slammed his Iron Dragon club into the ground, and launched himself into the air. As he ascended, he fired Iron Dragon Clubs into the Fairy Tail Guildhall, leaving the massive iron pillars jammed into the walls and ceiling of the Hall. He landed on the roof on the run, releasing even more Clubs into the Fairy's Hall and by time he had gotten to the other side, the building looked like an oversized pin-cushion.

"That outta do it."

Gajeel dropped to the ground and ran to an alleyway across the street, using the close walls to get himself back on the rooftops. He had just hidden himself behind a chimney when he heard coughing from the Guildhall. He turned and saw a short old man and a much younger white haired girl stumble out of the perforated Hall coughing from the dust. Once outside they turned to face the Hall and the old man shook his head while the woman looked like she was crying. Gajeel smirked as he snuck away.

xx

Gajeel was not happy. He had decided to wait a bit to make sure that the Fairies were riled up enough to march on Phantom Lord, but they hadn't done anything. Oh they were upset, but their Master wasn't letting them loose. The only bright spot was that Salamander was freaking pissed and was going nuts over not being allowed to do anything about it. And that was why Gajeel was sitting on a rooftop trying to figure out how to get Fairy Tail to attack Phantom Lord. Then the answer walked right underneath him.

A slim blue haired girl, flanked by two tall slim men, one with orange hair and wearing a fur trimmed coat with matching top hat and the other with black hair that was swept upward into a sort of "reverse ponytail" and wearing two yellow bandoleers walked right underneath Gajeel's perch. They were talking rather animatedly and probably wouldn't have noticed a dragon attacking, let alone Gajeel sneaking up on them. Which is just what he did.

Gajeel hit the ground running, charging in between the two idiots and hitting them in the face with an Iron Dragon Club each as he rushed the girl. She turned around before he got to her and fell to her side, spoiling his attack. Gajeel slammed his fist into the ground and spun himself around just in time to see the girl writing in the air.

"Solid Script Magic: Fire!"

The word Fire, made of fire, flew at Gajeel who shot himself into the air with his clubs to dodge.

"Iron Dragon Club!"

Gajeel's arm shot forward right towards Blue Hair, who suddenly wasn't there. He quickly saw her down the street by Fur Hat, who was bleeding from the head.

"Knuckle Plant!"

Gajeel looked down, Bandoleers was back up and had a small forest of fist shaped plants heading for Gajeel. He just smirked.

"Iron Dragon Roar!"

The cloud of metal shards hit the plants, ripped them to mulch, and continued on to hit Bandoleers full on. The resulting explosion sent him flying and he smashed through a nearby crate. He didn't get back up.

Gajeel landed nearby and tried to find Fur Hat through the dust.

"Falcon Heavenward!"

Gajeel saw the dust part in front of Fur Hat as he charged. Gajeel just extended his Club outward and let the idiot crash into it. Fur Hat slammed into it, knocking the wind out of himself, and Gajeel contemptuously flicked him off his arm and into another set of crates.

"Just you and me now…"

"Solid Script Magic: Thunder!"

Gajeel dove to side as a lightning bolt crashed into the ground right where he had been standing. Blue Hair was winding up for another shot, but Gajeel wasn't gonna let that happen. He turned his legs into Clubs and fired himself at her like a bullet, grabbing her head with his right hand as they slammed into a wall. Gajeel pressed Blue Hair into the wall a bit, keeping his grip on her face.

"No more magic for you, girly."

Gajeel let her go and gave her a left hook to the side of the head, knocking her out.

xx

Ten minutes later Gajeel was admiring his handiwork in the park. Blue hair and her friends were bolted to the big tree in the center, but he felt something was missing.

"Ah, i know." He said as he walked over to a nearby water pump "Our trademark"

Gajeel scooped up a bunch of dirt and put it in the bucket before he pumped some water in. Then he took his mud bucket over to the tree and painted the Phantom Lord Guild Symbol onto Blue Hair's stomach.

"A work of art and if this doesn't get those Fairy's panties in a twist, nothing will."

Gajeel laughed as he walked off towards the North Gate, the next few days were gonna be fun.

 **Chapter 24: Drowning Heart**

Juvia entered Magnolia, under a light rain, several hours after Gajeel had left. Sol had not been a good traveling companion, either spending all his time underground or trying to flirt with her. The flirting was the worst part, she had always found him creepy, and as such she was in a bad mood and rather distracted by the time they made it to Magnolia.

Juvia and Sol started their search at the ruined Guildhall. The place was still a mess and was deserted, Fairy Tail clearly not having enough time to start repairs. So the odd pair kept walking, heading next to the Fairy Hills Dormitories, which were also empty.

Juvia being horribly distracted thinking about Hadrian wasn't helping things and when combined with her discomfort at being around Sol she may as well have been walking blindfolded. So when she rounded yet another street, she would have walked right past the blonde if she hadn't spoken up.

"Strange, how is it raining with the sun out? Oh god who are you?" she squealed as she saw Juvia.

"Drip, drip, drop, I am Juvia the Rain Woman, and the rain is always with me. What manner of woman are you? Drip, drip, drop." said Juvia as she walked past the blonde, who she now noticed was carrying groceries.

"Uh, just the regular kind. Whats with all the drip dropping?"

"Pleasure to meet you, i'll be going." said Juvia as she kept walking, mostly oblivious to the blonde.

"Well take your stupid rain with you!" yelled the blonde.

"Oh non, non, non! I bid you bonjour mademoiselle" said Sol as he melded out of the ground

"Oh great another weirdo!"

"You mustn't shy away from the task at hand mon cheri" Sol said to Juvia.

"No, monsieur Sol."

"Well mon cheri, the belle dame there is our cible."

"Is she?" Juvia took a good look at the blonde and after a second she realized that Sol was correct. The girl in front of her was definitely Lucy Hearfilia.

"Ah pardonez-moi" Sol made a grand sweeping bow to Lucy "I have not properly introduced myself. I am Sol of the Element Four. Also known as "Sol of the Earth", but it would behoove you to call me Monsieur Sol"

"I've heard of the Element Four, and you're with Phantom!"

"Tres Bien! We've been sent to collect you and bring you back to the Guild at once! Ma belle compagne is a Rain Woman who is also part of the Element Four. She is known as "Juvia of the Great Sea"

At that Lucy dropped the groceries and went for a Key ring at her waist.

"You're the ones who attacked my friends!"

Before she could do something stupid, Juvia gestured and formed a Water Lock around her, causing her to drop her keys.

"Au contraire, mademoiselle. A reasonable guess, but it was not us. That honor and the renovation of your Guildhall was the work of Monsieur Gajeel. Although, to be fair, we were with him in spirit."

Juvia just glowered. She thought Gajeel had gone to far, and she didn't feel all that comfortable with any of this, but the Master had given her instructions, and it was her duty to obey them. Lucy continued to struggle inside of the Water Lock, futilely thrashing against it.

"Don't waste you energy, you won't be getting out of my Water Lock."

"Ah, c'est magnifique!" yelled Sol as he wobbled more. Juvia tried not to show her disgust with the man.

"Do not worry. We have explicit orders not to harm you. You are nothing more than a retrieval mission from the Master, Lucy Hearfilia."

Lucy passed out inside the Lock and Juvia released the spell, gently, lowering Lucy to the ground.

"The target has been captured, drip, drip, drop."

Since Fairy Tail had already marched towards Oak Town, Juvia and Sol were forced to take an alternate route, over the lake. They had acquired a boat and Juvia had accelerated them across the lake in record time, meaning they arrived in Oak Town before Fairy Tail did. The two mages took their prisoner to a waiting carriage and spirited her away to the true Phantom Lord base, up in the mountains North of Oak Town, the Phantom Castle.

Juvia was first out of the carriage, followed closely, almost too closely, by Sol. Several Guild Mages hurried to the carriage with a stretcher and carried Lucy away. Juvia and Sol headed in through the massive double doors to report their success to Master Jose. Just inside, leaning against a pillar, was a man in a red ninja suit.

"So i see you two are the consummate kidnappers"

Juvia almost flinched at the vitriol in Totomaru's statement, but Sol was unaffected.

"Ah monami, I think you are just jealous that you did not get to spend so much time with Mademoiselle Juvia" Sol gestured towards Juvia, who had already disappeared.

"Well that is decevant" Sol said glumly, Totomaru just laughed.

xx

Juvia found Master Jose on one of the upper levels, looking out a window into the rain. He seemed quite happy.

"Good job Juvia, Lucy's father will be most pleased."

"Thank you Master Jose."

"Now, remain in the Castle. Phase two is about to begin.


	7. Chapter 7

IM NOT DEAD! This chapter is at least 8-9 months overdue as life, epic amounts of procrastination, laziness and the weirdest writers block got in my way. Im hoping that i've purged the writers block that i can continue on a more normal basis. Hopefully monthly. Anyway, please enjoy this obnoxiously overdue chapter.

 **Chapter 25: Assault of the Fairies**

Hadrian was sound asleep when an explosion wrenched him to wakefulness. At first he thought that it was a dream or maybe a cart had crashed, until a second explosion went off. Hadrian hurriedly got dressed and dashed out the door, pulling on his coat as he did. Once outside he joined the throng of people who were standing in the street and staring at the Phantom Lord Guildhall, which had smoke pouring out of it.

Hadrian stared in shock for a moment then sprinted towards the ongoing battle.

xx

Makarov was in a rage. He had blown open the Phantom Lord doors, unleashing the angry horde that Fairy Tail had become. He walked through the Phantom forces as if they weren't even there, sending mages flying with blasts of barely controlled power.

"Erza, I leave these small fry to you!" Makarov yelled as he blasted the stair entrance to rubble.

Erza Scarlet stood in the center of the Fairy Tail forces, taking command as Master Makarov had requested. Natsu was an uncontrollable juggernaut, tearing through the Phantom mages like they weren't even there. She put him out of her mind, Natsu would do whatever he wanted anyway.

"Elfman! Go and reinforce our left flank, Cana needs help."

With a great cry, Elfman summoned his Stone Bull arm and crashed into a squad of Phantom Mages, scattering them. Erza looked to the right flank, which was covered by Gray and Loki. The two of them were doing a hell of a number on the Phantom Mages, so that flank was secure. She took a moment to breath and collect herself, looking for a way to press their advantage. Her thoughts were interrupted by a deep laugh from the ceiling. Black Steel Gajeel fell from the ceiling like a comet, landing on the Phantom Lord bar sign, cracking it.

"You attacked Shadow Gear!" screamed Nam as he lept at Gajeel. Gajeel didn't even turn his head, he just extended his arm, which had become a club, into Nam's gut and swept him through the brawl that was going on.

"Holy crap, he took out some of his own with that attack!" yelled Gray

"Ya, and if I'm willing to do that to them, imagine what I'll do to you!" with that Gajeel dropped from the sign onto the floor proper and retracted his arm. "That is, unless you're all too scared to face the Iron Dragon Slayer."

"Too scared!? I'll show you how a Real Man™ fights!"

"Elfman! That jerk is mine!" Yelled Natsu from the pile of unconscious mages he was standing on.

"Why's that Natsu?!"

"Cuz i called dibs!"

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty." smirked Gajeel

"I'm a Real Man™!"

"And i ain't no girl either rust face!" And with that, Natsu lept towards Gajeel with his fists shrouded in flame. Erza hadn't moved from her position, but her hand was now pinching the bridge of her nose. She had forgotten how stupid her Guildmates could be.

xx

"Hahaha then bring it on Salamander, cuz you sure look like a little girl from over here!" Gajeel was happy. This is what he loved best, no skulking around, no convoluted plans, just cracking skulls. And he was about to crack one with stupid pink hair.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu came in high, the punch aimed straight for Gajeel's face. The hit would be devastating, if he hadn't telegraphed it from last week.

"Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel's right arm extended, catching Natsu in the chest and launching him back towards Elfman. Natsu flipped in midair and, using Elfman as a springboard, shot himself back towards Gajeel.

"Fire Dragon Swordhorn!" Natsu surrounded himself in fire as he launched a flying headbut into Gajeel's chest, who was knocked back through the bar. The victory was short lived as Gajeel quickly rose to his feet, with bits of rubble falling off him.

"Ok, round two Salamander"

xx

Hadrian got to the Guild just as Makarov was blasting out the stair doors. Seeing that Fairy Tail held the main gate, he made a run to the back of the Hall, which was thankfully still open. Hadrian got inside, just in time to see Natsu Swordhorn Gajeel through the bar. He also saw a guy with a pompadour using some sort of weird Smoke Magic who was keeping the Phantom Mages from pressing the flank he was nearest to. Jericho was trying to establish some sort of order, and it wasn't working.

"Come on you dogs! Get in there and show them who's the best!"

"Ah hell no! That dude is freakin nuts and we can't even hit him!"

"Need a hand Jericho?" asked Hadrian as he swaggered up.

"Hadrian, thank god! These useless bastards are scared of that old man over there with the pipe, I need him taken out."

In response Hadrian shifted to his Summer Court form and charged in using Fairy Dance, ducking under several smokey fists as he did. However, just before he could get into range to stab the guy, a wall of smoke appeared in between them forcing Hadrian to rapidly backflip in order to not crash into it.

"Nice try there kid, but you'll have to be faster than that." taunted Pompadour

Hadrian juked to his left trying to outmaneuver the wall, but wherever he went the wall was always right in front of him.

"Screw this!" Hadrian shifted to Autumn Court and slammed his hand into the ground

"Fairy Fog!"

Several Magical Circles appeared around Pompadour and erupted in fog. Hadrian held it until he couldn't make out Pompadour anymore, then he leapt up and began hurling Will o' Wisps where the guy had been standing. Hadrian landed and charged through the Fog, blowing it apart as he did. Pompadour was standing there, his arms covering his face from the blasts as Hadrian blindsided him with a kick to the side of the head.

Pompadour went down and the Phantom Lord mages rushed into the new gap, just as a terrible explosion rocked the ceiling. Someone came crashing down from above and smashed into the ground floor. Hadrian heard someone scream "master", and judging by how the Fairy Tail mages started acting, it was one of them.

"Their Master's down, push'em!" screamed Jericho as he charged.

xx

"No, no, no, no! Master!" cried Erza as she cradled Master Makarov. This couldn't be happening. Everything had been going so well, but without Master Makarov, they were outmatched. Erza stood up, lifting Makarov as she did.

"Elfman, take the Master!" and to everyone else "Fairy Tail, retreat!"

"What, no way!"

"We can take them!"

"I said now!" roared Erza. The Fairy Tail Mages made a beeline for the main door. Erza Requipped to her Flame Empress armor and covered the Fairy Tail retreat. Once the rest were out the door she created a massive wall of flame across the entrance, then turned and ran, silently berating herself for not helping the Master.

 **Chapter 26: Phantom Marches**

Inside of Phantom Lord the mages were picking through the wreckage to find the wounded. Gajeel stood atop one of the rafters, looking down on the wrecked Guildhall. He felt a light breeze as Aria appeared next to him. The huge man wore his typical green coat and purple stole and Gajeel could see the tears pouring down the man's face from behind his blindfold.

"So, i take it you're the one who whacked their Guild Master?"

"It's so sad! Such a great man has fallen!" he balled.

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Oh quit your crying, it's freaking me out."

While Aria started to wipe his tears, Gajeel noticed Hadrian picking his way towards the shattered bar, still in his Summer Court form. He looked up and spotted Gajeel.

"You do know this was our bar right?"

Gajeel barked out a laugh "What do you say we go and take Fairy Tail's?"

"Wouldn't that be highly illegal?"

Gajeel shrugged "Hey, they attacked first, now its just self defence."

"I don't know Gajeel…"

"Well we're going with or without ya, so if you wanna come along get up here."

After a moment's hesitation, Hadrian leapt up to the rafter Gajeel and Aria where on. Once he landed he shifted back to his normal form and adjusted his coat.

"Ok, I'm in. What's the plan?"

In response, Gajeel scooped up Hadrian, tucking him under his arm, and grabbed onto Aria's sleeve before Hadrian could so much as squawk. In the blink of an eye, Gajeel, Aria and Hadrian where all transported from the Guildhouse to the front of some castle. Gajeel dropped Hadrian, rather unceremoniously, onto the ground and started walking towards the castle doors with Aria.

Hadrian picked himself up and looked around as he brushed himself off. The land around him was rocky and rather barren, but otherwise uninteresting. He looked behind him and saw Oak town, spread out below him, several miles away.

"Where are we?" he asked as he ran to catch up with Gajeel.

"Couple miles out of town, at the Phantom Lord Headquarters"

"So we're gonna meet up with Master Jose here and make a plan?"

"You could say that." Gajeel laughed

They entered the castle and Hadrian was overtaken by its sheer size. The Guildhall was large, but it didn't _look_ large, whereas the castle seemed to almost scream it. The entrance hall was a long pillar and stained glass lined hallway with a red carpet running down the middle. Halfway down the hallway a man was leaning against a pillar. As they approached, Hadrian was able to make out more details, such as the fact that the man had two toned white and black hair tied in a top knot, that he wore a flashy orange gi and had a katana riding at the small of his back.

"Hey Totomaru, I take it everyone's here?"

"That they are Gajeel, the Master is already waiting. What's with short round there?"

Gajeel answered before Hadrian could so much as open his mouth, "The runt is with me."

Totomaru raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Whatever Gajeel, the Master wanted to talk to the Element Four and you, and i get the feeling he meant in private."

"Fine, Hadrian, go hang out upstairs or something, I'll find you when I'm done."

Hadrian nodded and headed for the sweeping stairs at the back of the hall, he may as well do some exploring while he waited.

Gajeel followed Totomaru towards the back of the castle, towards the dungeon tower, meeting up with Juvia and Sol at the foot of the stairs. Before they could head up the stairs however, they felt a wave of magical energy come down the stairs. All of them froze, as it was the unmistakable energy of Master Jose, and he was pissed.

After several more seconds Master Jose rounded the curve of the stairs, slightly hunched over and grimacing. Once he saw them at the foot he stood up a bit straighter, but the grimace of pain and rage never left his face.

"Totomaru, get the Castle ready to move, we're marching on Fairy Tail's Guildhall. The rest of the Element Four is to get in position around the base in case we should need to use the more advanced weapons, but i don't see us needing more than the Jupiter Cannon"

At that Juvia paled a little, though you'd have to know her to notice the difference.

"The Jupiter Cannon sir? Are you really planning on using it?"

Jose just laughed, "Oh i'll use it alright, if they don't surrender Heartfilia."

"Sir, me and Sol already captured-"

" _I know that!_ " roared Jose, "The little bitch kicked me when i wasn't looking and jumped out the damn window. Gajeel, when we get there, i want you to track down Heartfilia, i doubt they'll giver her up, she's too valuable."

"Ya, no problem boss" said Gajeel with a grin. Juvia and Totomaru didn't look to happy about what was about to go down but Gajeel was ecstatic. He'd finally get to smash those Fairy Losers, and Phantom Lord would be on top, where it belonged.

xx

Hadrian was in a large hallway on the third floor looking out one of the massive windows when the whole castle started to shift. He grabbed onto the sill for support and as he pulled himself up he saw that the castle had suddenly sprouted legs and was moving and a ponderous pace South.

"Holy shit, our castle can move! Ow!" Hadrian yelped in pain as an umbrella whacked him on top of the head.

"What did i say about that language young man?" said Juvia from behind him, a very small smirk on her otherwise emotionless face.

"That i should stop" Hadrian replied morosely as he rubbed his head. He suddenly stopped and looked out the window. "What a sec….why isn't it raining?"

Juvia gave him a small, sad, smile "There is magic built into this castle as part of its defenses, as a side effect it prevents me from changing the weather while I'm inside. Standing in here is the only way i can see the sun." Juvia slowly ran her hand down the window pain, the sadness evident on her face.

"Well i like the rain, its to warm otherwise" Hadrian said with a grin.

Juvia ruffled his hair before looking him in the eyes, "Hadrian, things are about to get very, very ugly. I want you to be careful, ok?"

"Aren't i always?"

 **Chapter 27: Fall before the Jupiter Cannon**

Erza punched the wall of the shower as the water cascaded down on her. She had failed the master, and now he was in a coma at Porlyusica's because she wasn't there to watch his back.

"Damn it"

She punched the wall again, this time to hold back tears. She would not break down again, the Guild needed her, and crying wouldn't solve anything.

A tremor dragged her out of her introspection. Before she could truly comprehend what was going on another tremor, stronger than the last, swept through the ground. Erza quickly shut off the water, grabbed a towel and ran outside. The rest of the Guild was already there and staring at a massive castle moving across the lake on four spider like mechanical legs.

"What in the hell?"

xx

"This is so totally awesome!" Yelled Hadrian as he gazed out the window, high up on the moving castle. He knew that Phantom Lord had cool secrets, it was the top Guild after all, but he never imagined that it would have a mobile fortress. The thing was fast too, it had only taken a few hours for it to cross the lake and now they were staring down the Fairy Tail Guildhall.

"Huh, looks like a dump."

"Well, you know how Fairies are, just a bunch of slobs."

Juvia gave Gajeel a rather arch look as he grinned just a bit too wide at the condition of the Guild Hall. He just glanced over at her and flashed that same smile.

"Come Hadrian, let's find a better vantage point."

Just as Juvia turned to leave, she heard the tell tale grinding of gears. Gajeel heard it too, and while Juvia froze in shock, his grin just got wider.

"Look over there pip squeak, you're gonna wanna see this."

Hadrian looked to where Gajeel was pointing and saw a massive cannon beginning to unfold itself from the Phantom Castle.

"Woah, that is so cool!"

"Yup, thats the Jupiter Cannon. It focuses a bunch of energy from a couple of massive lacrima into a giant beam, it's pretty sweet."

"And incredibly destructive Gajeel, i can't believe the Master is going to use it."

Gajeel just smirked, "He must be awful pissed"

"Look its firing!" Yelled Hadrian as the cannon began to charge up. Swirling black energy formed a vortex around the end of the barrel, as if it were absorbing all the ambient light in order to power itself. Just when it seemed that it couldn't go on anymore, the cannon fired a massive black beam directly at the Guild Hall.

Just before it got to the Hall, a massive green shield sprung up. The beam crashed into it, attempting to push its way through, but after a few seconds the beam disappeared, but not before it shattered the shield, whatever it was.

"Attention Fairy Tail," Master Jose's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, "Makarov has fallen, and Erza can no longer stand. Give us Lucy Heartfilia immediately and we shall leave."

The words had barely left Master Jose's mouth, before the Fairies started screaming at Phantom. Hadrian couldn't really make out what they were saying, but they sounded pissed. After a few seconds of that, Hadrian heard Master Jose start to growl.

"Alright! If that's how you want it! You've got fifteen minutes to decide, if you still won't give me Hearfilia, then i'll fire the Jupiter Cannon again. Make peace with yourselves." Jose switched to the internal PA system, "Gajeel, depart on your mission."

Gajeel tossed a sarcastic salute to the speaker before turning to go.

"Kid" he glanced at Hadrian over his shoulder. He also got a good look at Juvia's very disapproving look. "Take care of the castle while I'm gone."

Hadrian flashed him a huge grin.

"You got it Gajeel!"

With that, Gajeel marched off, both hands in his pockets as he took a leisurely stroll down the hall. He didn't bother looking back as he knew he'd just see Hadrian grinning like an idiot and Juvia giving him that disapproving stare. He just shook his head. For someone who had nothing before coming to Phantom she was rather judgmental about what they would do on occasion. Oh sure, she would do it, but she always had that rather disapproving look you only really noticed once you got to know her.

Gajeel just shrugged as he headed for the lower dock. It was just one of the reasons he was glad he didn't go on missions with her. She was such a buzzkill.

 **Chapter 28: A Shadow Falls Over Fairy Tail**

Gajeel boarded the small boat with Boze and Sue pushing it off from the small jetty on the underside of the castle. Boze and Sue did their best to row quickly and quietly through the water, but Gajeel stood at the bow, not particularly concerned about the Fairies spotting him. They had their own problems.

Gajeel glanced over at their Guildhall, which was currently surrounded by an army of Master Jose's Shadows. He had to give them credit, they weren't doing half bad, but then again Master Jose wasn't exactly putting in a whole lot of effort into smashing them either. He was just stalling until he could get off another shot with the Jupiter Cannon. Gajeel shook his head, Master Jose sure was one for dramatics.

The small team made it to the beach without anyone noticing them and stashed the boat behind some bushes. From there they headed out into the streets, or more accurately Boze and Sue headed to the streets, Gajeel decided it would be more fun to go roof running. It didn't take him long to catch the Princess' scent and he headed directly there, while Boze and Sue ran through the tangle of side streets trying to keep up with his roof hopping.

When he got to the small warehouse the Princess was in he couldn't keep the savage grin from his face. This was gonna be fun.

xx

Hadrian sat on the windowsill and watched Master Jose's army of Shadows constantly attack Fairy Tail, keeping them all pinned down while the Jupiter Cannon prepared for its next shot. He wasn't nearly as excited as he usually would have been as Master Jose's magic reminded him to much of-

He shook his head. No, he wasn't gonna think about that. He had to focus on the here and now and the here and now involved them kicking Fairy Tail's ass. He glanced up at Juvia who had been even more silent than normal. She was a slight shade paler than usual too and didn't seem to like what she was seeing. None of that made Hadrian feel any better, so he just went back to watching the battle.

A few seconds later, there was an explosion from the base of the cannon that blasted most of the roof clean off. The entire castle shook as the barrel of the Jupiter Cannon fell into the lake and a great cheer went up from the Fairy Tail mages on the beach.

"Juvia! What hap-"

Hadrian's question was cut off as the castle continued to shake, and somehow, grow taller. Juvia's face paled even more as she realized what was happening. After several more seconds of horrid grinding and shaking, it all stopped and the castle settled. When Hadrian looked out the window to see what happened, he realized he was at least 20 feet higher than he had been and the castle had now turned into a giant freaking robot!

"Uh, Juvia, what just happened."

"Master Jose just activated the Phantom Castle's Super Mage Giant Phantom mkII. In essence he has turned it into a giant magical focus that will begin drawing magic from me and the other Element Four in order to power itself and any spells it chooses to cast." She didn't sound particularly impressed.

"But what kind of spell would you need a giant fucking robot in order to cast?"

It just went to show how rattled Juvia was that Hadrian's cursing didn't earn him a bap on the head.

"The Abyss Break." Juvia said at a whisper as she looked out the window, as the castle slowly began to draw the massive circle that held the power to destroy not just the entirety of Fairy Tail, but all of Magnolia and a fair portion of the surrounding countryside. As Juvia looked she saw someone climb out of one of the broken windows in the hall below their position.

They clearly weren't from Phantom Lord, and as much as she hated what Master Jose was doing she had taken an oath to follow him. Plus she had to hope that this was nothing more than a bluff, a terrible terrible bluff.

"Hadrian, I have to go. There's an intruder in the castle and I must stop them." Juvia said as she turned to leave.

"I'll come with-"

"No Hadrian!" Juvia yelled as she whirled on him, showing the most emotion Hadrian thought he had ever seen from the woman.

"No, just… I don't want you involved in all of this ugliness." She turned away from him. "Just stay here, and stay innocent."

With that, Juvia walked off down the hall and out of Hadrian's sight.

"But I'm not…." said Hadrian in a small voice.


End file.
